


his blood runs thin and doubts comes in

by cryystal_m00n



Series: obligatory cliche tropes [13]
Category: The Rose (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mob, Alternate Universe - Police, Angst, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Everyone Is Gay, F/F, M/M, Minor Character Death, Rating May Change, Sexual Tension, based on history3 trap, jaehyeong is dumb and angry, mafia leader!jaehyeong, police detective!woosung, woosung is dumb and angrier
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2020-03-30
Packaged: 2021-02-24 16:09:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 27,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21960721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cryystal_m00n/pseuds/cryystal_m00n
Summary: woosung can feel it in his bones, this one will end up being successful. he will capture lee jaehyeong and throw him in prison for murder. this is what the bastard deserves anyway, to die in a small room, eaten alive by guilt and starving rats.
Relationships: Kim Woosung | Sammy/Lee Jaehyeong | Jeff, Lee Hajoon | Dylan/Park Dojoon | Leo, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Series: obligatory cliche tropes [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1080975
Comments: 7
Kudos: 31





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> erm, merry christmas my dudes!!! this isn't really a christmasy fic, but hopefully you guys will like it! if you havent watched trapped, i highly recommend it!!!! dont read this if you plan to watch it because it will spoil the whole thing 
> 
> the pov will change between jae, woo, dojoon and hajoon, so each little icon thingy in the beginning of a new part means that the pov changed!! the moon is for woo, the sun for jae, the star for dojoon and the alchemy symbol for day and night (looks like two swords kinda) is for hajoon! in the first chapter its only jaesung's pov, but still 
> 
> this hasn't been beta-ed yet so if there are any mistakes, im sorry but im pretty damn excited about this whole mess of a fic! 
> 
> yeah, i think that's it for now,,,,, so enjoy my dudes, dudettes and non binary firends!!!

☾

woosung grips his gun so hard that his knuckles turn white. he feels as if he were to loosen his grip, his composure will fall apart. he’s not doing something new, it’s just another raid, a possible step closer to putting an end to his rotting need to avenge the one he’s lost. 

woosung can feel it in his bones, this one will end up being successful. he will capture lee jaehyeong and throw him in prison for murder. this is what the bastard deserves anyway, to die in a small room, eaten alive by guilt and starving rats. 

one of the geared up officers opens the door for him, his body protected by getup he’s wearing. woosung only has his gun to protect himself with. he runs inside with a determination unmet at other cases that _don’t_ involve the man he’s been chasing. 

the room is poorly lit, but even so he can see that jaehyeong is not present. the smell of burning paper is in the air, and if woosung strains his eyes to see past the panicked men, he can see the lit piece of paper in the trash can. jaehyeong has been here, he _swears._

“where is that motherfucker?” he fixes jaehyeong’s favorite mercenary with a look, rolling his eyes when hajoon smiles at him innocently. “where—”

“i’m just the messenger, officer. no need to get snappy at me because jaehyeong isn’t answering your calls,” hajoon says with a wink, dodging the gun pointed at his forehead. 

he can vaguely register dojoon ask the mobster if anyone else came to close the deal, and the answer they get is enough to make him _bolt_ out the door and hurry outside. 

_“no, officer. only the blond was here._ no _one else.”_

woosung pushes the doors open, so forceful he hears the hinges whine under his power. “lee jaehyeong! lee jaehyeong!” he’s running, trying to catch up with the taller man. 

he can see his back, the pristine black blazer clad figure getting farther and farther away from him. damn the monster and his impossibly long legs. 

_“lee jaehyeong!”_ his own voice scares him, but it seems to have no effect on the man he’s chasing. 

sprinting until he reaches him, woosung yanks jaehyeong around to face him. gun pointing at his neck, woosung’s body tenses. “lee jaehyeong, i’m here to—“ 

“to _what_ officer? i’m simply a passerby, you can’t arrest me without a mandate, may i remind you, _policeman?”_ jaehyeong quirks an eyebrow, expression clearly amused by the fire that doesn’t falter from woosung’s eyes. he goes to move past the smaller man, but woosung doesn’t bulge. 

“fuck you,” woosung says through gritted teeth, gun not lowering at all. 

jaehyeong smirks. “i know your infatuation with me is something else, but please, detective, not in pubic.” 

woosung’s cheeks brighten, but the man blames it on heatwave that hit the city, not on the mobster’s words. 

out of nowhere, dojoon pops out next to him, telling the elder something about their captain having called them back to the precinct. woosung growls under his breath, dropping his arm to his side. there is still a need to blow jaehyeong’s brains out, but he pushes it down in favor of glaring at the taller. 

“maybe i can’t do it now, but mark my words, lee jaehyeong, i will catch you one day.” 

jaehyeong blinks at him, unimpressed by his threats. “good luck with that, officer. until then,” he bows slightly, before turning away and leaving dojoon to calm woosung down. 

damn that smug fucker. woosung would sooner die than let him roam free. god, even just watching him fix the cuffs of his blazer as he walks away infuriates him to no end. 

how could anyone think of him as anything _but_ a criminal? he’s heard some of the staff in the precinct comment about how hot jaehyeong is, but frankly, woosung couldn’t see it. there was not even an ounce of attractiveness in the mobster, only cockiness. 

each look woosung got to throw at him only made the desire to ruin him grow. he wishes he could push him down, make him obey while pointing a gun at his head, keep him on edge until he’s but a puddle of the man he pretends to be in front of his people. 

woosung wants to hold him at the end of his gun and wait. for what? he’s not sure; a while ago he would’ve said a confession, something he could use to put him in jail, but now, now woosung would settle with even a plea for the officer to stop. 

“c’mon, woo,” dojoon says as he places his hand on top of woosung’s shoulder, “let’s go back. you can catch him another time, ok? you don’t want to get sued again, do you?”

reluctantly, woosung turns around and follows dojoon back to their car. what difference would getting sued make when he could catch a criminal and imprison him for life? it would only put an end to this whole tom and jerry game they’re playing and with that coming to an end, woosung could finally move on with his life. it sounds like a perfect plan, the only problem is _how_ he will execute it without earning himself another suspension from their captain. lord knows this time woosung won’t hesitate to go out without a badge. 

which brings him to his current situation: captain jin running after him around the whole station while yelling profanities at woosung about how careless he is. he’s used to fighting with the captain, it’s something that occurs every time a case includes lee jaehyeong, but even so, the headaches he gets after each screaming session are not something he welcomes with open arms. 

jaehyung fans captain jin’s heated body, matthew burns incense to calm him down and jimin even brings him his favorite tea, but nothing stops the elder from busting open a few blood veins. 

“and tell me _why_ the fuck do you always need to run after him? it’s the _tenth_ time in two months, woosung! you can’t let this obsession with jaehyeong ruin your life! let him be! he didn’t do anything bad besides--”

“killing sunyoung? oh, no, wait, he didn’t kill her, i forgot that! no one gives a shit about sunyoung, so yeah, of course you all dropped the case! if you would’ve just let me look into it for _one_ more month, i could’ve thrown the fucker in prison! but everyone here just cares about their own!” woosung snaps at the man. silence takes over the precinct and woosung already feels tension rising in the air. 

“i mean…” he tries to come up with something, _anything_ that can get him out of the hole he’s digged for himself, but his brain is empty. 

“he took a bullet straight through his heart and another one through his stomach, woosung,” captain jin says with an eerie calmness. “do you think he’s fit to be thrown in jail because of that?”

“it could be a set up!”

“why the fucking fuck would he shoot himself?! why would he put himself in the icu for almost _two_ months just to not be put in jail? tell me woosung, tell me what’s your reasoning!”

woosung is close to ripping his hair out. “look, i don’t fucking know why he’d do that, but i am _sure, certain, 100% positive_ that his testimony was a lie!” 

“spare me your theatrics, woosung. this conversation is done!”

“but captain!”

“no more words, son!” captain jin pushes past woosung, not minding the way he’s still trying to latch onto him and convince him he is right. 

“but--”

dojoon rushes in, stopping their yelling match. “sir, the interpol is here to take hajoon!”

and that’s when woosung can feel his blood boil. he rushes past dojoon, sending his friend into the wall behind him. he’s ready to fight tooth and nail to keep hajoon in his precinct if it means getting closer to jaehyeong. stopping right in front of the officer and mercenary, he blocks their way and demands an explanation. 

“we need his help for an ongoing investigation. so if you excuse me, detective.” without another word, the man (woosung is sure he’s named minho or something like that; he will have to look into it and tell him to fuck off for ruining his case later) walks out. before they disappear behind the closed doors, hajoon makes sure to throw a smirk over his shoulder for woosung and what looks like a wink to someone behind him. 

he all but bolts after maybe-minho and hajoon, but dojoon and matthew both catch him before he can even take three steps. “captain you can’t just let them take hajoon away! _we_ were the ones who caught him!”

somewhere to his right, he hears captain jin sigh and woosung _swears_ he’s rolling his eyes at him. “remember when you almost fucked up their japanese drug case? think of it as payment for that one time, woosung.”

“but, _sir!_ ” when captain jin doesn’t even seem to care about his uneasiness, woosung knows he’s had enough. “fine! see if i give a shit!” 

not waiting for a response, he leaves, throwing the rest of the papers he still had in his arms on a desk without bothering to see whose desk is being subject to his anger issues. 

by the time he gets to the front doors of the building, his anger has mostly subsided, only one thing left on his mind. finding jaehyeong and making it seem as coincidental as possible. if he can’t arrest him without a warrant or a good reason, he will just go back to the old fashion way of trailing his every move. 

three steps outside and he feels someone (dojoon, by the way his second step is always more pronounced than the other) following him. he doesn’t turn around to face him until he’s sure dojoon is really not giving up. 

“what do you want, joon?”

“captain said to make sure you don’t pull one of your stunts!” he defends himself, arms up in the air. 

“it’s my day off, i’m going back home,” woosung scoffs, leaving dojoon behind as he begins to walk again. 

“not your day off, man. and you’re going to find jaehyeong, aren’t you?”

“am not!”

dojoon stops him with a hand on his elbow, spinning him around. “i’ve known you for how long again? and you mean to tell me that this wasn’t your first idea?”

“maybe it was, but you can’t stop me, dude,” he says, pushing past dojoon and back onto the main road. dojoon doesn’t give up that easily (something woosung is proud _and_ angry at) and he runs after woosung with ease thanks to his slightly longer legs. 

“you’re not going after lee jaehyeong, woosung! his lawyer has you on speed dial to let you know when you need to come to the court!”

woosung rolls his eyes, but he doesn’t slow his pace down. “look, joon, he can’t sue me if it’s a coincidence we met in the same place!”

sighing, dojoon matches their steps. “why do i feel like this will end up badly for us?”

letting his arm drape across the younger’s shoulders, woosung simply smiles and nods. he doesn’t want to let dojoon know that every single time he had done something like this it ended with a gun pointing at his forehead and a threat to be shot on the spot. after all, gangsters aren’t civil people and when you rub them the wrong way they are bound to break sooner than later.

“just trust your hyung, joonie. i can take care of both of us, ok?”

dojoon gives him a hard look, but he doesn’t comment anymore. instead, he lets woosung lead him to where he knows jaehyeong is right now, and only barely hides his awe when he notices that the mob leader is actually inside the small yet luxurious suit shop. 

“why am i not surprised you know his schedule by heart?” dojoon asks, still looking inside the shop through the window. from their place at the side, they have a perfect view of jaehyeong and thankfully, the man can’t see them. it’s a win-win situation for woosung. 

“i don’t know his schedule _by heart,”_ woosung argues, though he knows he looks defentless in his best friend’s eyes. 

“monday morning?”

“running the length of the han river, but only a few kilometers or so, because he gets bored after a while,” woosung says without thinking. he’s busy staring inside the shop, watching closely as jaehyeong sips whatever liquid he has in his cup. he has a contempt look on his face and woosung hates it. 

“thursday?”

“at the _octogon club._ ”

“saturday night?”

“probably at the opera if he’s feeling really fancy.”

“damn… you really are obsessed with him, woo…”

woosung glares at his friend, making sure that the younger can see how mad he is at him. he doesn’t, too busy looking at jaehyeong. “i just happen to pay attention. and besides, he’s gotten more predictable with his location. it’s like he wants me to look after him, jesus,” woosung sighs. 

“i’m sure that’s it, dude,” dojoon says. woosung chooses to ignore the mocking tone of his voice. 

next to them, the door of the shop opens, startling them both. woosung stares at the shop assistant as she ushers them inside. “come on in, the boss would like to invite you two inside,” she says, quirking an eyebrow when woosung’s hand goes straight to where his gun is placed on his hip. woosung doesn’t miss the way she rolls her eyes.

woosung rushes inside, barely registering dojoon’s protests. oh god, what is he going to tell jaehyeong? that he just so happened to have been staring inside the shop for the past ten minutes and debating whether or not to come inside. he needs a reason, he needs a lie that the man will believe; something, something that would work… 

he picks up a suit, an ugly green one with stripes that would look atrocious on him, and holds it up in front of his body. he checks himself in the mirror, catching jaehyeong’s careful eyes as he does so. “what do you think, joonie? does it fit with the captain’s daughter’s wedding?”

dojoon holds back a snort, but he entertains the elder without a word uttered before. “it does, but do you think you can afford this, hyung?”

“what? of course i can, it can’t be that expensive…” woosung’s words die on his tongue as his eyes fall on the price tag. almost _a million_ won. why would anyone even pay that much for a simple (and ugly) suit?

behind them jaehyeong coughs once, looking up at woosung with innocent eyes. “detective, you can choose any suit in here and i’ll give it to you as a gift for your service and protection of the innocent people of seoul, but please just go for another one. the colors don’t match your skin and the whole suit would make you look sick… sicker than you already do. and let’s not mention how it’s at least two sizes too big for you, detective kim. no offence but,” he stops to eye woosung up and down, “you’re kind of small.”

woosung’s eye twitches, but he puts the suit back on the rack. “i’ll let you know i’m the tallest in my family, lee.”

jaehyeong snorts into his tea (of course the pretentious fucker drinks tea, how more cliche could he be?) before standing up and walking to where woosung is still looking at suit options. he looks good in simple materials that he can pair up with his jewelry, but none of the ones displayed fit his fancy. 

“are all your siblings and parents gnomes, detective?” jaehyeong asks as he reaches for a suit hanged high on the rack. woosung curses how tall the fucker is. who gave him the right to mock his height just because he has the genes of a tree? woosung is close to hitting his kneecaps. 

holding a black suit out for woosung to look at, jaehyeong continues to search for something else. “you’d look good in reds, but i don’t think we have any in your size, detective. but this one seems to fit and the silver accents do work with your whole… aesthetic you have going on. do you want to try it on?”

woosung all but rips the suit from jaehyeong’s hold, inspecting it with measured eyes. it does seem to be a perfect fit, and though the style is a bit more classic than what woosung would prefer, it still offers enough opportunities to turn it into something that will look good on him. 

“i don’t need to try it on. and i don’t need your pity money, lee!” 

“but are you sure you can afford it, detective kim? it is quite out of your salary if i’m correct,” jaehyeong says, his big eyes staring woosung down. “jiyong, why don’t you help detective kim with his measurements to make sure it does fit and we don’t need to look in the children section, hm?”

“hey!” the same girl that brought them inside the shop pushes woosung a round step, where she begins to measure his shoulders and waist. jaehyeong’s eyes are still fixed on him, even as his phone rings and he picks up the call. 

as the taller man speaks with the person on the other side of the line, woosung notices something. his voice had gotten significantly softer, as if he’s speaking to a child or someone just as innocent. 

“yes, seulgi, i’ll come back home as soon as i can. don’t worry, i bought you your favorite. tell joohyun to take care of you until i’m back.” he stops to smile, hand coming up to his sleeve to play with the silver cufflinks. “i know you’re no longer a child, but joohyun-noona is just worried you’ll do something stupid.” jaehyeong turns around and so woosung is brought back to reality. 

“ok but why is he so handsome when he’s smiling?” dojoon questions aloud, earning himself a smack over the head from woosung. “i’m just saying!”

“stop saying it then!”

dojoon sighs. “you’d think that with your obsession you’d be more than ok when it comes to seeing how good looking he is.”

“over my dead body,” woosung says through gritted teeth.

jaehyeong finally ends the call, and over their still ongoing fight, he says, “it appears i’m needed elsewhere, detective kim. but don’t worry, you don’t have to pay for the suit. like i said, it’s a gift for your… outstanding performance and your thirst...” he smirks at woosung before adding, “for justice, of course.”

and just like that, he leaves, not sparing woosung another glance. the man next to him on the other hand, whom woosung noticed just now, makes just to glare at him before rushing out after jaehyeong. 

“what was that about?” he asks dojoon. 

dojoon, who is still busy with enjoying the silky material of the suit that is soon to be woosung’s, simply shrugs. with another prolonged sigh, woosung lets jiyong take care of his measurements and he soon finds himself walking back home with a nice (and very much free) black hand tailored suit. 

(he doesn’t bring up the pair of cufflinks he finds in the bottom of the bag.)

* * *

“you know what i find really weird?” dojoon asks around a mouthful of noodles, spitting a few bits out onto woosung’s table. “why are you so pressed by this.” he points his chopsticks at the elder, before pointing them to somewhere behind him. woosung doesn’t have to look up from his own food to know what he’s referring to. “i mean, if someone were to know all the details of your little chase with jaehyeong, they’d think you fell in love with the guy and now you’re trying to catch his attention!” 

woosung closes his eyes to calm the urge to throw his bowl at dojoon’s head down. dojoon, on the other hand, not sensing the danger zone he’s approaching (or not giving a shit about it) continues, “you drew _fanart_ of the guy, for goodness’ sake! and you put it right where you can pass by it _every day._ that looks like quite the feelings you have there, buddy.” the younger ends his little speech by taking a big bite of his noodles, almost choking on them with how eager he is to be eating again. 

“i told you times and times again, joon, i don’t have a crush on the dude!” 

this time, dojoon chews on his food before he speaks, “not to sound like a broken record, but are you sure?”

“i-- of course i am!” woosung splutters, not believing his ears. his best friend is doubting his intentions and feelings (which are those of revenge and pure hatred) for _the_ lee jaehyeong. and the worst part is that it’s not the first time they have this conversation. it’s almost as if the picture (which isn’t hanged on his because he _wants_ to look at jaehyeong’s face! it’s there to motivate him to dig more until he gets to the middle of this never ending mess.) just puts dojoon in the mood to mock his friend.

“well, i still think you’re just too dumb to realize what you’re feeling, but please, bro, when you come around i wanna be the first person who finds out, ok? i wanna be there for your gay panic,” dojoon swallows the last bit of his ramyun, standing up to throw the paper bowl away. 

“i will _not_ gay panic over lee jaehyeong, dojoon. stop with this nonsense!”

humming, dojoon takes the image of jaehyeong in again, this time much closer to it. “you can’t draw for shit but somehow you managed to make him look alright.” he gasps, arms flying up to slap his cheeks in a much too dramatic way. “do you think we could work for him? oh man, imagine how much money we’d make!”

“w-we’re not going to work for jaehyeong! are you nuts? we are _policemen!_ he is part of the _mafia!_ what’s not clicking in your brain, joonie? your wired fanfiction trope isn’t going to come alive through me!” woosung raises his voice so much that it cracks, an obvious sign dojoon is starting to walk on thin ice. 

“but think about it!”

“dojoon! the only reason i’m still chasing his ass is because i _need_ to know the truth! i can’t let this criminal walk free!”

rolling his eyes, dojoon takes a seat back in front of woosung, pulling the younger’s box closer to him and beginning to eat whatever is left in it. woosung’s protests fall on deaf ears as the younger stuffs his face with the delicious chicken. 

“this is for saying i can’t hope you’ll fall in love and have a happy ending, dumbass,” the younger mumbles once he is done, licking the chopsticks clean before throwing them in the sink for woosung to deal with later. 

“yeah, joonie, but you have to understand i’ll never be together with a man like him, ok? he’s bad news, and nothing will ever change the fact that i hate his guts and want him rotting away in a cell.”

“you never know, woo… love is unpredictable like that.”

jaehyeong’s almost deformed face stares at him. he’d have to be blind to not think that the man is attractive, but that’s all there is about him. a pretty face hiding an ugly heart. woosung knows better than to fall for his type. 

* * *

☼

jaehyeong replays the conversation he’s had with younghyun as he dries his hair with a towel. the elder is trying again to make a move, and whilst he had never given the man hopes for something he doesn’t want, younghyun still seems to be enamoured with him. he will have to let him down harshly, if the gentle approach isn’t working. 

the thought of having younghyun go and negotiate with park chaesook isn’t something jaehyeong is fond of. that is hajoon’s job, it’s something he’s trained of and that he has done for most of his life. younghyun, on the other hand, is fit for inside business, not the type that would get his hands dirty. 

for now it’s better to deny any of his requests that may put his life in danger and hope that his little puppy crush would disappear soon. maybe wonpil would be willing to include him in his already three way relationship. 

the door to his room opens just as his tea begins to bloom, and he doesn’t have to look up to know that it’s seulgi who walked in. her rose and blackberry perfume is what brings serenity to jaehyeong even in restless moments. 

her arms wrap around his waist, and though she can’t reach his shoulder to rest her chin on it, she tries anyways. “so, little brother, is this how you greet your sister? after hours spent on an airplane with nothing to do, you don’t even come to welcome me back?” jaehyeong knows she throws her head back, her voice close to whining in the dramatic way she is fond of when she wants to tease the younger. 

“i bought you sushi, i don’t know why you’re mad at me,” he turns around to face her, having to look down to meet her gaze, “ _little sister._ ” 

seulgi huffs, her cheeks doing the thing that makes jaehyeong _need_ to pinch them. so he does just so, squishing his sister’s face until it all deflates and seulgi has to glare at him to get him to stop. “i’m keeping the necklace i got you for myself,” she says through the pout jaehyeong himself has put there. 

the younger just boops her nose before letting her go, focusing back on his tea. he takes out the flower and sets it on a plate. “so, how was america? did you have fun with joohyun-noona?”

seulgi hums, but then her face scrunches up in thought. “i heard some interesting stuff today from younghyun, brother. why didn’t you tell me kim woosung is chasing you again?”

jaehyeong promptly ignores the question, holding his cup of tea in front of her face. “want some? it’s gunpowder, your favorite,” he wiggles his eyebrows, hoping that this will make her forget the subject she wants to approach. 

the woman gives him an unimpressed look, pushing the cup down. “stop changing the subject, jae! he’s been causing you nothing but problems! why not just let _me_ take care of him? c’mon, i’ve trained with a gun, i can make it look like an accident, just let me get rid of him!” 

sometimes, his sister’s bloodthirst for killing men worries him. “no, seulgi. he can’t do anything anyway, so it’s not like he’s causing me _any_ problems. he’s just following me around. it’s not hurting me, ok?”

still not convinced, seulgi wants to protest some more, but jaehyeong just shuts her down with a pleading look. he’s not in the mood for this conversation again. it’s enough he’s had it with younghyun already. 

“fine. then, care to tell me why you’re so keen on taking out the ulsan drug ring? don’t think i haven’t heard about that either, brother dear.”

“it’s nothing to worry about, ok?”

“jaehyeong! you can’t just say that and _not_ expect me to worry! you’re my younger brother, of course i’m going to fret over it!” she stays quiet for a moment, but then all hell breaks loose as she realizes what he’s doing. “who are you targeting? _why_ are you targeting someone from the ulsan league? is this about what happened four years ago? jaehyeong, you already know father wouldn’t want you to keep chewing on the same bits in hopes of finding something new!”

“it’s not about what happened to father, seulgi. it’s about… they’re tricking people, i can’t let them ruin innocent lives!”

“jaehyeong, _you_ ruin innocent lives!” 

“well maybe i want to stop that!”

seulgi looks at him, stunned. “is this about kim woosung?”

jaehyeong rolls his eyes, feeling a headache creep behind his eyes. he takes a seat at his desk, inhaling the sharp smell of green tea to calm down. “yes, seulgi, this is about my crush on kim woosung and how the feelings i have for him made me realize that i want to be a good person, congrats on figuring it out!”

“if you want to get rid of the problem, you start with the root…” she says, eyes focusing on the picture frame on jaehyeong’s desk. “let me help you!”

“i can’t have that, seulgi. i don’t want you to get hurt in the process.”

“i can take care of myself! i’m not a little girl anymore, jae! i’ve _killed_ people!”

“seulgi…”

“i know you hate that thought, but it’s true, ok? this is the life we chose years ago and we’re just dealing with the consequences now.” she takes his mug from his hands and holds it away from him. “promise me one thing, though?”

“what is it?”

“don’t get too close to kim woosung,” she speaks in such a serious manner that jaehyeong is suddenly hit with the realization that she truly is his _older_ sister. 

jaehyeong just smiles and reaches for his tea. 

* * *

younghyun is giving him the last updates he needs to know before the meeting scheduled to be held in ten minutes. he can’t say he’s paying much attention, but at least he’s nodding along to whatever the silver haired man is talking about and pretending to listen along. 

“and then if they give us the green light we can move on to daegu, but until then--”

jaehyeong already knows this, damn it. they step inside the elevator, jaehyeong pressing the button for the third floor and waiting for the doors to close. before he even realizes it, the doors stop, a hand pushing them open again. in comes kim woosung, smiling broadly at jaehyeong and not even paying a protesting younghyun any mind. he all but throws his right hand man out of the elevator, landing a blow that is ought to leave a nasty bruise on younghyun’s chest. 

he walks inside the small cubicle without a care in the world, swiftly pushing the buttons to close the doors and to change the floor to the seventeenth storey. “so, lee jaehyeong. what a pleasure.”

jaehyeong rolls his eyes, but doesn’t stop woosung from _erasing_ any means of personal space there may have been between them. “i was thinking, since you gave me a nice suit last time i was in your shop, it’s time for me to repay you. and i found just the perfect gift for you, lee,” he says, pulling something out from his pocket.

the taller man doesn’t want to look at whatever object he’s taken out, and since he’s playing hard to get, woosung holds it out in front of his eyes. “see? a nice skeleton! it has the same lack of emotions as you do, so technically, it could be your sibling!”

grabbing the little skeleton, jaehyeong puts it back where it came from (he shivers at how cold woosung’s hands are). “stop living in the past, detective. what happened four years ago is done. everything that happened was the truth, and you just have to _accept it_.”

“oh, i do think that what happened is the truth. you got shot, you almost died, i believe that. but, lee, i don’t believe your testimony. not seeing who shot two people despite being a witness?”

“three people, detective.”

“two people and one lee jaehyeong, yes.” woosung takes a step closer, and then another one, and another one, until he’s backing jaehyeong in a corner. “call it a… a gut feeling, lee. my guts are telling me you’re lying, and sure, i don’t know why, but i will find out soon enough.” he’s so close jaehyeong can feel his breath on his lips. “mark my words, lee jaehyeong.”

jaehyeong stares at his lips for a second too long. they’re pretty and they look far too soft for someone like kim woosung. his ears go pink at the thought. 

“hah! i’m onto something, right? i’m making you nervous, lee!”

jaehyeong blinks at that, the spell somehow broken just like that. he’s quick to turn the situation around, inching closer to the officer with measured steps. “is that so, detective? because to me, it seems like you’re the one growing flustered,” he says with a smirk, slamming his hand on the wall next to woosung’s head, while his other one rests on his hip. _bingo._

“hey! what do you think you’re doing? you know i’m not scared of you, right?!” 

“sure you’re not,” jaehyeong whispers, hand wrapping around woosung’s arms to put him in a headlock. the dumbass _slips_ somehow, and jaehyeong has to catch him just so that he doesn’t end up in an elevator with a dead body. “watch your step, detective,” he says, offering woosung a small mocking smile.

jaehyeong uses this opportunity to slip the handcuffs over one of his wrists, securing it tightly around it. woosung looks at him, eyes full of betrayal and surprise. it only takes him mere seconds before he is cuffed to the metal bar. 

he holds the pair of keys woosung needs centimeters away from where he would reach. “have a nice day, officer,” jaehyeong wishes him, smile genuine this time. he leaves with woosung’s screams accompanying him. 

jaehyeong has to tell himself that the smile he’s wearing when he meets up with younghyun is not because of how adorable woosung looked with his dumb piece of hair sticking up. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a murder is never what it seems. sometimes, one must be killed for something greater, and so, though they've been killed, it wasn't in vain. it was to unfold a game of domino with a much bigger effect, something that a normal human can't undertsand.

☾

captain jin’s intense stare is burning his skin off. he can’t even imagine what dojoon must feel like, the metal bar that trapped woosung in the elevator secured by his tight grip. woosung wants to put himself in front of his best friend, but he knows that captain him would not hesitate to hit him. dojoon, on the other hand, is always safe from his wrath thanks to his bright smile. 

“you’re telling me that you encountered— no, you  _ followed  _ lee jaehyeong, beat his right hand man to get into the same elevator as him to give him a  _ skeleton toy _ and still got yourself cuffed to this dumb metal bar?” he’s so angry woosung can see his vein get close to popping. 

dojoon steps in between the two men when he notices woosung want to answer his senior. “sir, we’ve talked with the hotel and they understood the…” he glances at woosung’s still cuffed wrist, “delicate situation we were in! they won’t file in a report!” 

“oh, that’s such good news because?” captain jin rolls his eyes. “that doesn’t change the fact that  _ i _ have to explain to the boss why this happened! you’re not there to see the way he acts, kids! and there is still a part of the budget that got lost on… on cutting this stupid metal out to free this dumbass!” 

the older man turns to woosung. “is this really worth it, woosung?” he doesn’t give him a chance to explain himself before continuing, “you’re grounded to desk work for three days! if you want to act like a child then you leave me no choice but to treat you like one!” 

woosung runs after the captain as he leaves them behind, protest on the tip of his tongue. dojoon has to follow him, unless he wants the elder to dislocate his shoulder. 

captain jin turns abruptly, making the detective bump into him. “you, dojoon, watch him as he writes his apology letter for the superiors. make sure it’s over two thousand words or less i don’t want to see it on my desk, understood?” 

“sir! it’s not my fault! i had to do it! i was getting closer!” woosung tries to fight back, to show the captain that he can trust him and let him  _ out  _ in the wild, where he can uncover new mysteries about sunyoung’s death. 

captain jin’s whole demeanor softens for a moment, his eyes betraying him the most. he looks pained by woosung’s statement, but then he speaks, and though his voice is soft, the elder’s words cut deep inside woosung’s heart, “holding onto a case do tightly won’t get you anywhere, woosung. it’s high time you let it go. when a case remains unsolved, it simply means it wasn’t the time for its reality to be unveiled.” 

“and when will it be this one’s time? after sunyoung’s body fully rots in its grave? captain, with all due respect, but i won’t stop. it hurts me to see everyone just bury sunyoung’s memory like this, without even bringing her soul peace! i want her name to be clean, not tarnished through mud just because she was at the wrong time with the wrong person! sunyoung was important to me, you know this, sir… she deserves better; she deserves a serene afterlife… a happy ending…” 

captain jin’s eyes drop to his wrist, before he looks back at woosung’s face, and without any remorse, he says, “three thousand words until tomorrow, kim woosung.”

woosung’s heart feels colder than the metal that wraps around his wrist.

☼

jaehyeong doesn’t look up from his book as he lifts the food to his lips. the taste is absolutely divine, but after years of having tasted it, the food he makes doesn’t phase him anymore. after all, it will never meet the expectations he has for it, so it’s better to just enjoy it without making a fuss about what he puts on a plate for his sister, friends and himself. 

chan’s voice booms through the hallways, younghyun and hajoon joining him as well. he stops reading in favor of listening to their rather loud conversation, but even so, he doesn’t put his book down until both his right hand man and his best friend stop besides the dining table.

“sir, the lawyer managed to get hajoon out,” younghyun says, side eyeing the mercenary who is far too busy with grinning at the taller man. 

“i’m sorry i kept you waiting, boss,” hajoon pretends to care about jaehyeong’s patient waiting, going as far as bowing to the younger. his giant grin is still plastered on his face and jaehyeong feels a smile of his own pull at the corner of his lips. 

next to the blond, younghyun rolls his eyes, taking a step closer to jaehyeong. “sir, the lawyer said that even the  _ international _ criminal division has been keeping tracks of hajoon! perhaps… i mean, maybe he should take a break from actual activities and… and maybe i could take over the affairs!” the silverhead raises his voice towards the end, getting more and more fired about the situation at hand. 

hajoon places his hand on top of younghyun’s shoulder, and from his seat at the table, jaehyeong can clearly see the harshness of the elder’s grip.

“thanks for the concern, hyunnie, but the division invited me over for tea and cookies. you’d know that if you’d stop fawning over jae here and actually listen to what jaehwan says, hm?”

“you prick!” younghyun is close to lashing out even more, fists grabbing at hajoon’s leather jacket, but jaehyeong is faster than him. 

“the negotiation with park chaesook is to take place today, hajoon. i trust that you know what to do, right?”

hajoon nods, “of course, boss.”

startled, younghyun’s eyes widen. “what?! you’re allowing hajoon to come with us?”

jaehyeong shares a bemused look with hajoon, who has to gather every bit of self control to not burst into laughter. “are you questioning my decisions, younghyun?” younghyun takes a deep breath to calm himself, before shaking his head.

“if this is all, boss, i will head downstairs to prepare for everything,” hajoon says, mockingly bowing one more time, and without another word he leaves the room, but not before he smirks at younghyun one last time. 

“sir!” jaehyeong’s unimpressed gaze makes younghyun’s firey attitude falter. “i will go get ready as well…” 

left alone once more, jaehyeong eats the last bit of beef he has on his plate, and with careful fingers, he folds the corner of the page to mark where he stopped reading. 

* * *

the ride to the club where he agreed to meet with chaesook is uncomfortably silent. younghyun doesn’t say anything since hajoon is in the car, driving without a care in the world. jaehyeong resumes to looking out the window and making eye contact with hajoon whenever he catches his eyes in the mirror.

the elevator ride is better, but only because hajoon is not there to make everything worse with his slightly infuriating nonchalant persona. younghyun is still rather apprehensive about hajoon being part of the mission, but he keeps his mouth shut and only glares at the closed doors until they open. 

he walks inside the appointed room first, leaving younghyun behind to come in after him. park chaesook’s men pat them down as soon as they’re inside, not wasting a second when it comes to the dangerous, in loyal man that is to meet their boss. 

park chaesook is waiting for him, surrounded by gorillas as bodyguards; he’s looking out into the night life on the city, though he can’t see much with the height they’re at. 

when he turns around to greet jaehyeong, the young leader has to stop himself from grimacing at the sight before him. park chaesook has never been a handsome man, that much he remembers, but now that more years have passed by him, he looks downright deplorable. his hair is greasy and far too long for his features to look good, and the goatee he’s sporting is almost white, only one or two streaks of black making him think that chaesook is not actually as old as he looks. 

he’s short and rather skinny; his suit hangs on his shoulders and drapes over his body, making chaesook look unkept and even smaller than he already is. life hasn’t been good with him, and hopefully he won’t take his resentments towards senior lee out on him. jaehyeong needs him for his bigger plans. 

“ah, little lee! what a pleasure to see you! i don’t think you remember me properly, you were quite young when we last met, hm?” 

“of course i remember you, chaesook-ssi… i couldn’t forget such a… an interesting character even if i tried,” he smiles at the man, hoping that he decides to skip the pleasantries and go straight to business. “you know, because of your little drug stunt, i hear your name every couple of days. it’s hard to forget you.” jaehyeong gives the man a tight smile, coldness emanating from him. 

“now, now, little brother,” park chaesook takes a step forward, trying to look intimidating despite his short stature, “you may not want to take care of yourself, but the ulsan league needs your help. you must take care of what yunho left behind for you to lead, understood? you don’t need to make this even more…” chaesook’s hand rests on his hip, near where jaehyeong knows his gun is hidden, “complicated.”

“ulsan hasn’t been what it used to for a long time now, park chaesook-ssi.” jaehyeong can feel younghyun’s eyes watching him carefully, before darting to the short man. his cat like features only seemed to darken as he paid attention to chaesook’s actions. “why should i listen to you or the others hanging around in your little circus when  _ you  _ can’t listen to  _ me,  _ your boss?”

chaesook scoffs, rolling his eyes at the younger. “kids these days have no respect for us, the elderly.” he turns to face the city lights again, lifting his unfinished glass to his lips and taking a long, loud sip. after a moment of painful silence, park chaesook faces jaehyeong again, and says, “i have a deal to propose to you, little lee. i’ll provide you with a list of names of everyone in the ulsan league. i frankly don’t care how you deal with the trash, but when you leave this room, we will see how many of your little members you can protect.” the man pokes jaehyeong’s chest with his forefinger, before walking away from him. 

“with… all due respect, park chaesook-ssi, but i don’t think it’s your role, a man who’s been thrown out of the gang by senior lee, to tell me how to do my job.”

all hell breaks loose before he even finishes what he has to say. one of chaesook’s gorillas attacks younghyun first, completely unaware of the man’s power. he goes for a punch, but younghyun (now prepared, unlike the time woosung put him down) is much faster, and soon, one man is down. the two that go for jaehyeong don’t have it much easier. jaehyeong’s fingers have been broken one too many times, and the bones have gotten so hard that even one single punch aimed right is enough to put someone down. 

unfortunately for the two men, it takes jaehyeong a few more tries before he lands any successful punches that can take them out. not his problem, though, since he won’t be the one waking up with nasty bruises and broken ribs. 

guns are being pointed straight at his head when he stands up, and both jaehyeong and younghyun have to hold their arms up to avoid the risk of waking up with a bullet between their eyes. 

chaesook drags his voice, trying to calm his men down. “we said no guns and violence today. lay down, now.”

a chorus of ‘yes, sir’ answers him. 

“so, what do you say? i know boss lee made a strict decision, but it’s your turn now. what do you choose to do, little brother? will you let me help you?” chaesook must’ve read his expression well, because without waiting for a response from the younger man, he says, “i want you to always remember what you choose today.”

“as i do,” jaehyeong smiles at the man, holding his hand out for him to shake. he’s not surprised when chaesook slaps his hand away, and seals the deal with an equally tight lipped smile. 

🝰

hajoon has been waiting patiently inside park chaesook’s car. jaehyeong was really taking his time with this one, but he can’t complain when he gets to play with some new puppets. until then, however, he only gets to play with his butterfly knife, opening and closing it, throwing it from one hand to the other.

he hears voices get louder, and all his focus goes onto one thing only; getting his pray down. they open the door, park chaesook stepping inside first. hajoon stays settled until his bodyguard and driver gets inside as well. 

as soon as the doors are closed, he strikes, two simple hits on the back of their heads, deep enough to leave them unconscious, yet not enough to kill them. at first, at least. their death is soon to come, but hajoon knows how to make it seem natural. they don’t make a sound as they fall, and hajoon couldn’t be prouder. 

he wipes the blood on his shirt and walks out of the car as silently as he got in.

* * *

☾

woosung spots his co-workers talking among themselves in the middle of the precinct, jimin nursing a giant coffee mug, while the rest, jaehyung, matthew, dojoon and chaeyoung are all looking around worriedly. it’s dojoon who makes eye-contact with him, and as soon as their eyes meet, he shushes everyone. 

jimin wraps her arms around chaeyoung’s middle, urging them to talk about the new show she’s just started. woosung can see how they all engage in a new conversation with her, as if they clearly haven’t just been talking about something else moments before they realized woosung came. 

they don’t even look at him until he gets next to them, and when he catches their attention by asking what they’re talking about, all his friends turn around to stare at him, expressions unreadable. 

“why are you looking at me like that? is my hair sticking up again?” he asks, hands flying to his unkept hair and trying to smooth it down. everyone shakes their heads silently, leaving woosung alone and even more confused. 

he stops his best friend before he gets to leave as well. “dojoon-ah, what’s happening?”

dojoon laughs nervously, hand scratching the side of his nose (the same nervous habit he’s had ever since he was a little kid). “nothing. i gotta go pee, be right back!” he runs straight to the bathroom, almost bumping into matthew. 

woosung is left there to look after dojoon’s already gone figure. he shakes his head and walks after him, not one to leave a mystery unsolved. and besides, it’s not like dojoon can hide anything from him for too long. it’s only a matter of dirty tricks and puppy eyes before the younger is spilling the truth.

dojoon is indeed peeing when he finally gets to the bathroom, though he ducks behind the barely tall enough walls to hide from woosung when he sees him. it’s comical, if not a bit a sad. what could make dojoon so scared of the way woosung would react that he would go to such extents to keep it away from him. 

one name appears in his head, but it couldn’t be him. 

“are you going to tell me what are you doing? and stand straight, would you? i don’t like feeling taller than you. it’s weird,” woosung mumbles, hoisting dojoon up by the collar of his shirt. 

dojoon looks at him, not knowing what to say. his eyes are wide, and a little bit scared, though woosung thinks the last part doesn’t fit his best friend that well. “i told you it’s nothing, hyung! i don’t know why you’re so caught up on it, gee,” the younger man speaks with no malice, and it’s easy for woosung to not take the words to heart. he stops his friend before he even takes two steps past him, his fist tight around the material of his jacket. 

“tell me what’s going on, joonie.”

dojoon measures his answer for a second, before rushing to say, “park chaesook is dead.” he tries to make a run for it, but woosung doesn’t let go yet. 

“and?”

“he died last night.” woosung stops him again. “it was before midnight.” one more time. “and lee jaehyeong was the last person who spoke with him!” he launches himself in woosung’s arms, hugging him tightly. 

confused, woosung hugs him back. he pats his back twice, before asking, “why are we hugging?”

“because… i thought you were going to run out the door and try to find jaehyeong?”

woosung frowns at that. “why would i go look for him?”

“i just told you, quite clearly too, hyung, that lee jaehyeong was the last one who saw park chaesook!”

“did you guys find anything at the scene that could place the blame on jaehyeong?” when dojoon shakes his head, woosung pushes him away slightly. “then why would i go and try to catch him, hm?”

“but chaesook’s men all say it’s him that is responsible for his death…” 

woosung doesn’t say anything, just walks away from dojoon’s close proximity (and his strong grip) and heads to one of the urinals. he gives his binder full of details on a simple mob fights to dojoon and unzips his pants. this will help him think what dojoon just said without having to answer the younger for a while. 

dojoon follows him close, not understanding the notion of personal space. he hits woosung’s shoulder lightly to grab his attention. “you don’t believe that jaehyeong did it.” it was more of a statement than a question and woosung has to stop himself from frowning at the marble in front of his eyes and wonder if his face is that much of an open book or if it’s just dojoon’s seventh sense when it comes to his best friend. 

“it’s not that i don’t believe it… but i’ve been after jaehyeong for four-- almost five years now, joon. i know him and the way he acts.” he glares at his friend when he sees him raise an eyebrow. “shut it. as i was saying, he didn’t hold any grudges regarding park chaesook. at least none that i know of, so why would he try to kill him.”

dojoon blinks at him. “drugs. park chaesook’s death is going to bring the drug deals in ulsan and all around the district down. it’s devastating for the drug rings.”

“legitimization means no dealing drugs. lee jaehyeong is starting from the inside. and it just so happened that park chaesook was a key for the ulsan ring and he was a representative to the relations with the thai dealers. since he’s dead, do you think the thai will let him off the hook? how can the ulsan legitimize itself now? it’s a simple game and jaehyeong is winning.”

dojoon looks at him surprised. 

“i never thought i’d get to live the day where you stand up for lee jaehyeong. are you sure you’re ok, sungie-hyung?” the younger’s hand rests on his forehead. “no fever…” 

“i’m just thinking logically here, joon. it makes sense for him to want to take it out, but we’ve also found nothing that could incriminate him yet. and besides, if he wants to take the biggest drug rings out, who are we to stop him?” 

“you know, if you could just be this level-headed whenever something that concerns jaehyeong came up we’d be going places with everything.”

“look, joonie. i’m a police officer. i’ve gone through years of training; i’m used to solving cases using my head, why are you surprised i used logic to debunk whatever you thought of jaehyeong just now?”

“well, hyung… you seem to forget what logic means when you’re talking about sunyoung-noona’s case…” dojoon trails off, stopped by woosung’s death glare.  “shut up, dojoon. that one is different.”

woosung walks to the sink, dojoon close behind. they wash their hands in sync, drying them off with the cheap towels next to the soap dispensers. “i know, i know…”

“besides,” woosung wipes his hands dry on his jeans, earning himself a disgusting look from his younger best friend, “why would i frame him with a crime that he hasn’t committed?” 

dojoon still looks at him in disbelief, but for the time being he doesn’t make any more unwanted comments on the subject at hand. just like that, they head back to the office, dojoon explaining to him in great detail what park chaesook’s men had said in the investigation. 

“they all spoke as if they were there when chaesook died. it’s suspicious because they escorted lee jaehyeong out and watched him leave, but they still believe it was him or one of his men that killed their boss. and sure, we don’t believe any of them since they have no concrete evidence to the accusations, but we can’t rule out the possibility, you know?” dojoon asks, clearly excited to have another interesting case by the lift of his voice.

“well, i don’t think his men have anything to lose if they place the blame on jaehyeong, joon. they just want to see him gone so that their businesses flourish, and that’s what one enemy gone would do to them.” woosung walks around jimin’s desk, avoiding the woman seconds before a possible collapse. “keep me posted when you get any new information regarding the case, ok, joonie?”

dojoon hums and walks past jimin as well, heading for his own desk. he doesn’t get to pass the woman, because she soon has his elbow in a tight grip. she pulls him down until she can whisper-yell in his face. “dojoon! i thought we agreed  _ not  _ to tell  _ woosung  _ about the case! so  _ why  _ are you speaking with him about it?!”

dojoon sighs, pointing at woosung as he explains his great reasoning. “he’s been taking the news really calmly, jimin! just now in the bathroom, hyung logically reasoned that lee jaehyeong could not have been the one to kill park chaesook! he hasn’t gone  _ jaersek  _ mode yet!”

woosung frowns at whatever  _ jaersek  _ may mean, but he decides against asking for any type of clarification on it. he simply looks up at jimin with hurt in his eyes, trying to get the woman to feel bad for doubting his abilities to run out the door whenever someone mentioned jaehyeong. “i really don’t understand why you guys think i would go and look for him! it’s not like my whole purpose in life is to go after this man or anything like that!” he tries to sound nonchalant, going as far as to pick up a pen and play with it. 

jimin laughs at that, totally not believing him. “really now? that doesn’t quite sound like the woosung we know around here. i thought that just by mentioning jaehyeong’s name you’d go crazy.”

matthew snorts in his coffee. “he’d go dumb litty, jaime! dumb in the head, litty in the…” his eyes trail down woosung’s body. woosung has to throw his pen at his friend as the only viable option of shutting him up from making a stupid joke. matthew may be a gentle giant, but he’s not that caring when he teases his friends. 

he turns back to look at jimin. “i’m not  _ that  _ impulsive, jimin-ah. is that evidence?” he reaches for the plastic bag that the woman has been holding onto, snatching it from her and inspecting it close. he feels himself freeze, his heart stopping dead in his chest. 

lee jaehyeong’s cufflink, pretty and expensive and in all its glory stays nestled in between his fingers, only the sheet of plastic protecting it from his fingerprints. the silver feels like it’s burning his skin, however, he doesn’t drop it or gives it back to jimin. woosung just stares at the pair, hoping that somehow, by a miracle, it’s not jaehyeong’s but someone else’s. he doesn’t want to think about how he just defended a man who may have committed yet another murder. 

even as he wants to pretend he doesn’t recognize it, part of him, the wild, impulsive one, is faster to react. he stands up, clutching the plastic bag and walks towards the entrance, nostrils flaring. 

dojoon shouts after him, asking him what’s wrong, and blinded by anger and desire to break jaehyeong (be it his bones or mind, woosung doesn’t care), he only yells the man’s name back at his best friend. it’s enough of an answer, because soon, jimin, dojoon, matthew  _ and  _ jaehyung are all rushing after him, trying to stop his ruthless blood thirst. 

captain jin stops him before his friends get to him, as if he has an alarm set inside his brain for whenever woosung is about to pull one of his jaehyeong related stunts. “where do you think you’re going, son? didn’t i ground you to stay at your desk for three whole days? how many has it been so far?”

“i need to find lee jaehyeong!” woosung says, determined.

the older man rolls his eyes, pinning woosung with a look. “are you being serious right now? why are you in such a rush to see him, hm?”

“lee jaehyeong has something to do with park chaesook’s death! he was there! i’m--”

“how can you be so sure of that?”

“the cufflinks we found as evidence! they belong to him, i’m sure of it! they-- he was wearing them when i last went to his suit store! sir, you have to let me go after him!”

“woosung,” captain jin shakes his head, “those cufflinks are something common. lots of people have them! you can’t pin hunches like that just because you want lee jaehyeong in prison!"

“but  _ sir!” _

dojoon puts his hand on his shoulder, urging him to stop digging his own grave. “come on, woo, you said it yourself, it can’t be jaehyeong who did it! just let it go! it’s not your case to investigate, alright?” he tries to pull him back to his desk, but the seed has already been planted inside woosung’s brain. he’s not going to move until he gets to convince captain jin of lee jaehyeong’s part-taking in the murder. 

“sir, the design is peculiar! i’ve seen him wear it! i-- check his store, i’m sure he has those cufflinks there for sale!”

pinching the bridge of his nose, captain jin just sighs. “think about it this way, woosung: who was park chaesook? the drug lord of the ulsan, one of the only rings that have relations with the thai. now, let’s go to other point of my argument: lee jaehyeong has been trying to legitimize the ulsan ring for years, even when lee yunho was still alive and the head of the family. so why on god’s green earth would lee jaehyeong hire someone to kill park chaesook? let alone place the blame on himself in such a stupid way! do you get it now?”

“i  _ know,  _ but because of that it just seems unreasonable to write him off as a possible suspect! what if he is hiding something! he may be trying to-- fucking, i don’t know, to fucking change the reputation of the lee family! think of it this way, captain, if jaehyeong gets rid of all the drug rings that associate themselves with the lee family  _ you  _ and the rest of the  _ good people _ will want to give him another chance! it makes  _ perfect sense,  _ but you’re too blinded to see what i’m talking about and--”

captain jin looks once again close to losing in, but he begins his threats calmly, before escalating in both in gestures and voice volume: “i don’t care whether is your problem,” he points at dojoon, “or his,” this time he points at woosung, “or even god’s, but you stay at headquarters and think about what you just wanted to do.”

dojoon pulls him back before he gets a chance to talk back to their senior. “come on, woosung-hyung, it’s better if you just go back…” his hand is gentle on woosung’s arm, knowing that if his friend were to resist he wouldn’t hold a chance in winning. “look on the bright side; even if this proves to be lee jaehyeong’s cufflink, it doesn’t actually  _ mean _ anything.”

woosung turns from captain jin to finally look at dojoon. he’s still wearing his confused expression, but he just  _ can’t  _ shake it off; captain doesn’t believe him, even though his logic is foolproof! is he not a good enough detective? has he been so blinded by lee jaehyeong’s existence that he can’t focus on anything else but him?

he hears captain jin’s footsteps behind them, and the same fire that never ceases inside him sparks again. “captain, believe me!” he looks at the older man with no fear in his eyes; he’s ready to face whatever wrath there may come out of the man. “even if i don’t know why lee jaehyeong may have wanted to kill chaesook, let me go talk to him!” woosung swallows the need to scream in captain jin’s face that he needs to go after the mob leader. “i can get  _ something  _ out of him!”

woosung watches, eyes going from the captain’s tensed shoulders to the plainly  _ done _ look on his face. he crosses his arms, eyebrows raising with annoyance and hope that if he simply agrees with woosung he would shut up. “you want to investigate this case, woosungie?” a prolonged sigh escapes the captain, his shoulders slumping with exhaustion. “wait until we finish talking with the international criminal division, boy. as soon as we’re done and you have  _ plenty  _ of clues to debunk, i’ll set you loose to track down lee jaehyeong, ok?”

woosung’s eyes widen in shock, putred hatred now bubbling inside him. “we’re going to work with  _ the  _ international criminal for this case?!” he exclaims, grabbing onto dojoon for support. 

captain jin just nods and makes an affirmative sound in the back of his throat. 

* * *

☼

seulgi has never been one to have insane amounts of patience stored in her small body, but when it comes to jaehyeong’s passion for brewing tea, it seems like any ounce that there may exist just vanishes into nothing. she looks more like a baby bear when she’s trying to pay attention to whatever jaehyeong is doing than ever, and the younger would be lying if he said he didn’t love it. 

his sister is the most important person in his life, and just seeing her pout and frown when she doesn’t understand something is enough to put a smile on his face, his cold walls melting into an ocean of fondness and love. 

steam rises from his porcelain kettle, a gift given to him by seulgi on his twentieth birthday. he picks up the object carefully, pouring the burning hot water over the tea leaves. it will be a while until they can get to enjoy the freshly brewed tea, but this is merely the pleasure in doing it without the tea bag. 

seulgi sighs, playing with the bowl that still holds some unused leaves. she throws them in the air, watching as they land nicely back inside the shallow dish. she sighs once more as she places it back on the table and one more time when jaehyeong doesn’t pay attention to her. 

“why would you go through all this trouble just for a cup of tea, little brother? it makes no sense! it’s boring and by the time the tea is done you don’t feel like drinking it anymore!” she says with great irritation in her voice, clearly no longer interested in the process jaehyeong loves oh so much. after all, it has been longer than fifteen minutes already, and seulgi is known for having the attention span of a puppy when the subject at hand doesn’t interest her.

“well, when you take the time to brew your own cup of tea, you get to learn about patience and how to enjoy peace and quiet. something you may need to learn on, tiny sister,” he laughs at her evident annyance, but he doesn’t stop his teasing at this. he boops her nose too, since she said countless times before that she hates it when her brother acts as if she is the younger sibling. 

he’s not surprised when she whines, arms almost jumping at jaehyeong’s neck to either kill him or just threaten the taller man. he’s not sure which one seulgi was going for. 

she doesn’t get to properly wrap his small hands around his neck, for someone coughs next to them, grabbing both of their attentions. seulgi brightens up instantly, forgetting about the desire to murder her brother in only seconds after having realized who interrupted them. 

“joohyun-unnie!” she exclaims, moving farther away from jaehyeong to make room for the older woman. “come, sit with us, have a cup of tea!” it’s adorable how exicted she gets whenever joohyun comes into the picture, but jaehyeong is wiser than to comment on it. 

joohyun smiles back at seulgi, and jaehyeong tries not to feel like he is intruding something intimate. “noona,” he says, breaking the silence that set around the room, and with it, the spell the two women had been put under. “take a seat.” he holds out one of the cups for her to take, smiling at her encouragingly when she doesn’t accept the offered tea at first. 

it takes a few more seconds before she sits down, across from jaehyeong and seulgi, the cup held tightly in her hands. joohyun brings it close to her face, inhaling deeply the slightly  overpowering aroma of red tea. jaehyeong catches his sister smiling at the woman from the corner of his eye. 

“how is the current status of dul orion? is everything going according to plan?” jaehyeong asks. he receives a confident smile from his sister and a curt nod from joohyun. 

“all on track! i met up with bang yongguk yesterday, little brother, and he said everything will go smoothly from now on! so you don’t have to worry about anything regarding the company,” seulgi says, smiling brightly at her brother. her cunning mind will always be of use to the family and its businesses. 

“i wouldn’t expect anything else from you, little sister.” jaehyeong boops her nose again, barely dodging the punch aimed at his shoulder. 

“one day i will actually punch you and no one will stop me,” she threatens him, though her words are empty of any actual malice. 

“the next plan is to bid on bigger projects, boss,” joohyun bows her head at the man, action solemn. jaehyeong finds himself smiling at her without meaning to, but once he starts, he can’t stop. he’s proud of them, proud of how far the two women have come without his help, of how seulgi is so close to success, all on her own. 

jaehyeong takes joohyun’s now empty cup and fills it again, making sure that he adds a single teaspoon of honey in it for the woman. he holds it out for her to take again, smiling when she accepts it and offers jaehyeong a grateful, real smile. “teach my little sister well, joohyun-noona,” he says. 

“of course,” joohyun answers, her eyes meeting seulgi’s above jaehyeong’s haunching form. 

the peacefulness doesn’t last long, before soon, seulgi’s nagging nature comes back. “jaehyeongie, joohyun-unnie told me that there’s a rumor going in the streets that you had park chaesook killed. is it true?” her demeanour changed to that of a worried older sister, and with it, jaehyeong’s careless smile fell. 

it wasn’t a secret that his sister was against unneeded violence and murder; she’s been like this ever since their father died in vain. a sensitive subject that none of them liked to open unless strictly necessary. 

he can feel joohyun’s eyes on him, watching careful as to not let the man act without thinking. jaehyeong squeezes his mug just a bit tighter, lifting it slightly just to keep himself occupied. if he were to not try and stay quiet he knows he would lash out at the older woman. 

jaehyeong is not emotionally prepared to yell at one of the only people he can still call family. so he settles the fire slowly, with a few deep breaths and a few calming words whispered in his mind. a face flashes in a corner of his brain, barely lit in the darkness that covers his thoughts. 

a mess of dark brown hair, a little strand that never wants to stand down; a warm smile, never directed at him, pulls him back to the serene place he was in before seulgi brought up the death he had caused for such a great cause. park chaesook’s death is but a small piece in the grand scheme of jaehyeong’s plan, but even with its insignificance, he can’t deny the guilt he feels when seulgi is still looking at him, expecting an answer that would not cause her to feel disappointed. 

hajoon walks in just as jaehyeong gets ready to reply to his sister’s question. his posture is tense, and jaehyeong picks up the twitch of his gloveless fingers as soon as he is close enough. jaehyeong hopes it’s not because of the amounts of coffee he’s been inhaling throughout the day.

“boss…” he waits for jaehyeong to give him the green light to continue. the man nods encouragingly, urging him to keep going and deliver whatever news are waiting for him. hajoon takes a deep breath before he opens his mouth to speak again. “sir… we have news from thailand… han yeonshin is coming back,” he finally finishes, watching jaehyeong closer. everyone knows of the man’s hatred for han, and because of that seulgi places her hand on his shoulder. 

jaehyeong chuckles dryly, drinking the last of his tea before placing the cup on the desk in front of him. “back at last…”

seulgi squeezes his shoulder, worry pouring out of her and burning jaehyeong through his suit. “why can’t you just let it go, jae? why do you keep holding onto this?”

he gives her a reassuring smile, though it is much too tight, his eyes are far too devoid of any other emotion but anger dressed in the need for revenge. “nothing bad will happen, little sister. don’t worry about it, ok?”

though he can still feel her worried eyes looking at him, jaehyeong pays her no mind. there is only one thing on his mind right now, and that is how good it will feel to soon be able to put a bullet through han yeonshin’s head.

* * *

☾

unit six of the seoul sixty-nine precinct is all gathered in the conference room on their very own floor, where along with them, the international criminal division is occupying half of the seats. woosung has had to be hit a few times by jimin and matthew just to stop himself from stabbing the men and women seated across from him. 

jaehyung is in the front of the room, the projector turned on and showing images of the park chaesook case. his voice is unenthusiastic as he delivers the same speech he’s repeated with woosung again, word for word. “good morning, we are here regarding the case of park chaesook’s death.” jaehyung changes the slides of the presentation, photos of the club, parking lot, the car that became chaesook’s deathbed and the man’s corpse flying across their vision. “according to the actual scene, there has been no signs of a fight unfolding at the club, so we can say that park chaesook left the club before being attacked.”

woosung looks around, studying the division’s unreadable expression. they seem almost unimpressed with jaehyung’s presentation, as if they already have all the details and are only using them as a form of entertainment. woosung wouldn’t be phased if his assumptions turned out to be true. after all, the icd detectives are known to be giant pieces of shit who steal the criminals  _ woosung  _ works hard to catch. yes, he is still bitter about them taking hajoon when he was  _ clearly _ the one who caught the mercenary. 

jaehyung continues, somehow even more bored. “all the witnesses we have interrogated have told us their story, but it doesn’t match up with jaehyeong’s schedule. he has a valid alibi, and, as you can see from these recordings from the restaurant he’s been to, he got to the place at six and left at twelve. all the footage we’ve gathered can verify his presence. the cameras at park chaesook’s club have all been damaged prior to the incident, so we can’t say for sure what happened after jaehyeong left. we can say that he left before park’s death.”

next to him, matthew and dojoon are vigorously taking notes, not stopping even to breath. “we will extend our search for compelling evidence further, in hopes that we can solve the case. this has been our status update from investigation unit six. end of report.” jaehyung bows politely. he walks back to his seat and plops down on it, sighing. 

woosung thinks the update is not enough, jaehyeong is still free after all, but he can’t do much with the little they have. 

the captain of the division stands up and takes jaehyung’s place, gathering his notes into a pile and looking over them silently. “thank you for your update, unit six.” yeo donghyun crosses his arms over his chest, looking at woosung’s unit, his co-workers and friends almost mockingly. “but i don’t think you’ve gathered enough evidence to place a suspect for the murder of park chaesook. we truly hope that unit six will be able to give us more concrete evidence regarding this case. now, following this report, we will move on to the update from the international criminal division.”

woosung looks at him unimpressed. he feels dojoon scoff next to him, and he has to surpass the need to laugh at how  _ entitled  _ these pieces of shits are.  _ god,  _ he really hates working with them on cases that don’t even need their help. 

another presentation starts, this one beginning with park chaesook’s face plastered all over the screen. donghyun speaks with much more ardor than jaehyung, and woosung can alraedy imagine captain jin’s comments that will grace them after this meeting is over. 

“according to  _ our  _ investigation,” woosung rolls his eyes here, “as soon as park’s death has been made known, we have recieved a tip. korean drug lord, now residing in thailand, han yeonshin came back to korea. both han yeonshin and park chaesook have been members of the ulsan league before. while park chaesook took over it more or less, han yeonshin had served twenty years in prison. he was supposed to serve twenty-five, but he got released four years ago. he escaped to south asia, where he remained elusive. he--” the rest of donghyun’s words fall on deaf ears as woosung connects the dots in his head. 

“four years ago… he was let out four years ago… but, lee yunho was murdered then… shouldn’t there be any connections…” he trails off, writing everything down to look into the files after this whole charade is done. woosung keeps on mumbling to himself, not paying any mind to what happens around him anymore. this is much more important! this could be the breakthrough to lee jaehyeong’s end! he could finally bring peace to sunyoung… oh, how he wishes he could clear her name and let her soul rest for good, no more tainting to it caused by dead men and opinions of the living. 

next to him, captain jin mirrors donghyun’s actions, and he crosses his arms too. he looks just about ready to leave and never work with the icd, but the man keeps his calm and pointedly asks, “are there any locations we can say for sure han yeonshin has been in?”

donghyun’s face is the exact answer they all needed; he’s not quite uncomfortable with the question, but everyone can say that he doesn’t appreciate it. “right now? no. it’s impossible for us to be a hundred percent sure about his position since it’s been only a few days of him being back in korea.  _ but  _ we can deduce from the reports we get and all the tips we receive. this is why we’re hoping unit six can support us with their  _ full  _ support in this investigation.”

matthew rolls his eyes, jimin snorts behind her hand, jaehyung doesn’t even look up from his piece of paper and dojoon simply checks the time on his phone. woosung has long been gone from the present situation. it’s almost like a bunch of easily bored children have been put together in the same unit to try and solve crimes. sure, they do an amazing job at it when they put their minds at it, but in situations like this one, it is clear that unit six works best alone, and not with the icd breathing down their necks. 

“captain jin,” song kwangsik, the one who holds all the power in the small meeting room they’re in, grabs their attention. “you will work with the international division on this case, and this can’t be changed. you will provide all the information you can gather and together we can solve this, but the actual capturing will be the sole responsibility of the interpol. i hope we can get

woosung almost laughs at the pitiful attempt of sounding like he (anyone from the icd really) actually cares about the death of a drug lord. they don’t care about this how woosung does! he is ready to spend the rest of his days working on this case, breaking everything into little pieces and then glueing it back together. 

“huh, they don’t give a shit about us all year but now they demand that we work with them! as if they’re not going to just steal every piece of information  _ we  _ uncover and say that it’s theirs.” he hears dojoon mumble to jimin and frankly, he’s right. everyone knows this is what the icd does best, but no one dares to say a word about this, unless they want to lose their jobs. 

kwangsik pretends not to hear the murmur that engulfs the room. “your main mission this time is to ensure the validity of the sighting reports. as soon as you have a clear location on han yeonshin, you are to tell us  _ immediately.  _ the assault and capturing will be carried out by the interpol.

“now, there shouldn’t be any problems with this,” he stops and fixes captain jin with a look that gives away the fact that kwangsik won’t accept any other answer than yes, “right, captain?” 

the man looks at song with eyes that are just as harsh, but with a cruel, venomous smile he says, “of course not, sir.” if looks could kill, song kwangsik would already be buried six feet under by six different people. 

song stands up at last, buttoning his blazer. he walks towards their table, his glare not faltering. “with this out of the way, captain, as long as everyone present here works hard and han yeonshin gets thrown back in jail, both you  _ and me  _ will only have to win from this.” 

woosung rolls his eyes and sighs, not looking at the man. he’s walking even closer, but in all honesty, woosung would rather have him stay as far away as possible. he doesn’t need to smell garbage so early in the morning. 

“the actions that we will take this time… will be an important step on our way to stop the increasing influx of drugs from thailand. so i  _ truly  _ hope that you can control your people, captain.” song kwangsik stops in front of woosung, and reluctantly, he looks at him. his face is just as ugly as five minutes ago, but somehow, woosung wants to connect his fist with his jaw  _ just  _ a bit more now. 

“especially this rowdy one. i don’t want a repeat of last year, with him destroying the plans of the interpol—“

and  _ this  _ is where woosung snaps. his blood has already been boiling for a while now, but this—  _ this  _ plainly  _ stupid  _ game that the icd is playing with them makes him want to stand up and just punch everyone in the room except for his friends. 

so he just… he slams his fists on the table, almost breaking his pen in two. woosung sees red, and in the corner of this anger ruled sea of negative emotions and redness, he spots dojoon. dojoon who is quick enough to grab onto his shoulder and keep him grounded. 

“woosung,  _ no.  _ keep calm, stay with me here,” he whispers to him, voice calculated and pleading. 

“like i said. control him and everything will be ok.” kwangsik gets ready to leave, his back already turned to woosung and the rest of them. he only faces captain jin. “after all, i doubt you want to worry our superiors  _ again. _ ”

and with that, he exists the room. woosung would run after him, but right now he knows better than to anger captain jin even more. so he stays quiet and plays with his pen, as dojoon rubs circles on his thigh in an attempt to calm him down.

* * *

woosung traces the intricate design on the wooden music box with a calloused finger. he’s done this countless of times, but it never fails to calm him down. something about the carvings in the wood bring him to such a peaceful state that he forgets about his worries (even if only for a passing moment).

he twists the hand crank. one, two, three full twists; he waits. 

the lullaby begins, and his head spins with memories and warm embraces and a constant presence. he opens the box, placing the key next to it as he lifts the lid. 

sunyoung’s badge is waiting for him, as it always is. his shaking fingers hold onto it gently, picking it up and inspecting it closely again. 

it’s in a perfect state, untouched in four years by anyone else but him. 

he misses her  _ so  _ much, but he can’t cry. 

no one understands his grief, nor do they try to. his heart aches for a lost older sister, for a senior that can no longer guide him. 

she needs her peace, and so does woosung. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a pair of handcuffs, two enemies and two minions running after them. boy was woosung in for something fun.

☾

the restaurant is filled with a cozy atmosphere, there is chatter all around him, the lights are dimmed just enough to amplify the homelike feelings one gets when they sit down to eat and the food is absolutely perfect. 

no matter how fast he stuffs his face, woosung can’t seem to regain his normal carefree attitude. not even dojoon’s dashing smile makes him feel any better. he feels empty, and the food starts to taste bland, so he puts his chopsticks down and chooses instead to glare at his plate. 

“chief song was far too mean!” jimin begins her rant, voice loud and cheeks flushed from the alcohol she’s been drinking. “why pick on woo as if  _ you  _ do anything around the  _ whole  _ fucking police station! it’s just so  _ stupid!  _ like,” she aggressively bites down on her beef, “woo fucked up  _ once,  _ and yet this piece of shit only remembers that! he literally helped his unit solve an  _ unsolvable  _ case, but go off,  _ song.”  _ she spits his name out with so much venom that everyone around her turns to check if she will leave and go find the man she’s been bad mouthing. 

amidst her angry shouting, she notices that woosung is looking worse than usual, so she hands him one of the biggest pieces of beef. “here you go, woo, this will restore some of your energy so that we can talk shit about that song together!” woosung accepts the offered meat with a smile, and takes a small bite of the flavorful piece. when jimin isn’t looking, he slides the rest over to matthew, who inhales it in seconds. 

“it really is stupid how they treated us!” dojoon agrees with her, cheeks stuffed and eyes a bit glossy. “they looked at unit six as if they owned us!” he stabs a piece of egg with his chopsticks, and woosung thinks it’s the most adorable thing he’s ever witnessed. 

jaehyung sighs and pushes his glasses up a bit. “the interpol is composed of top elites, and there aren’t many of those because  _ someone--” _

“song,” jimin deadpans.

“is too much of an asshole to recognize talent. but anyway, those from the interpol do have to work overtime, which is why--”

“why they need us to go around and look for yunho as if  _ we  _ have that much time to chase a criminal. he’ll probably go to  _ so many  _ places! like think of how big just one district of seoul is! think of all the private clubs there are in gangnam alone! we can’t all be like woo and stalk our favorite mobster!” matthew’s boisterous voice interrupts jaehyung, and the man simply gives up and watches his friends with a small smile tugging at his lips. 

woosung, finally registering the attack, glares at the bigger man. it goes unnoticed unfortunately. 

“i keep forgetting that jaehyeong has anything to do with the murder,” jimin muses. “i swear ever since i’ve found out about han, i can only think of that guy!”

“well, even if he didn’t commit the murder, he got his rival to come back to korea,” chaeyoung, who stayed silent until now, says. “he provoked his rival… wasn’t he trying to go legit here? why make  _ this  _ move just to bring yunho back...”

everyone turns to look at her. her hair is getting in her eyes, but they are still unreadable. if woosung didn’t know her any better, he would say she is bored, but he is aware of the sparkle in her eyes as she tries to untangle the mess that is this case. 

“i know jaehyeong. he isn’t  _ that  _ type of person. he-- he wouldn’t just kill someone out of nowhere, not even if he was trying to prove a point! i just… god, i just can’t wrap my head around what he is  _ trying _ to do!” woosung breathes out, sounding exasperated, though that doesn’t even cover half of it. 

dojoon puts his arm around his shoulders, bringing him close. “it’s ok, dude! just forget about it for tonight at the very least! come on, have a drink, eat some more!”

“did you even eat the beef, woo?” jimin frowns at him.

it’s too much. his head is swimming with ideas that he can’t bring together, and the murmur of voices around him doesn’t do him any good when it comes to trying to quiet his thoughts. he has to get home and sleep. or stare at jaehyeong’s blank face that’s plastered on his wall and  _ try  _ to think like the younger man. 

so he stands up, giving dojoon an apologetic smile. “i’m gonna head home. you guys enjoy yourselves more, ok?” his best friend quirks an eyebrow, but he doesn’t comment on the change of attitude. he is smarter than that; he simply nods and signals for woosung’s phone to text him when he gets home or if he runs into trouble. 

✫

woosung’s departure did strike him as weird, but dojoon knows better than to crowd his best friend when one of his sorrowful moods clouds his usually bright personality. their friends on the other hand, aren’t as knowledgeable of woosung’s mood swings, so they still watch the door where woosung’s disappeared through with worried looks. 

“should we go after him…” jimin asks, but no one answers. they don’t know  _ what  _ to do.

“just leave him be, guys. he’s tired and i’m sure any of us would’ve reacted the exact same way if fucking piece of trash song ridiculed us in front of the icd. you guys know woo doesn’t do well when he’s reminded of his failures…”

everyone exchanges a look as they remember the last time someone brought up the chinese incident without meaning to. it resulted in two weeks of woosung skipping meals in order to solve as many cases, be them small or major, just to prove everyone that he is better than that. 

“we should try to make his life easier!”

“we are  _ not  _ killing him, matt!” jaehyung interjects. 

“i meant that we should help him with jaehyeong!”

“oh…” jimin says, frowning in thought. “we are  _ not  _ hooking him up with  _ lee jaehyeong,  _ matt!”

matthew stays quiet for a second. “you know, you guys always say i come up with dumb ideas, but it’s  _ you  _ who mentioned murder and sex, so i think it’s a you problem,” he says, rolling his eyes. “i was trying to say that we should try and fucking solve the case or capture jaehyeong or literally anything that would make woo a bit happier and make him forget of the intershit.” he finishes with a proud grin glued to his face. 

“that… that actually sounds really good!” dojoon says at last, truly impressed with the idea. sure, it’s not much, but it will mean a happy woosung and honestly, he would do anything to ensure his best friend happiness. 

he picks up his glass of soju, careful to not spill it. “cheers!” when no one mimics his action, he glares at them all. “ _ cheers  _ for us capturing jaehyeong, dudes!”

“he’s still not captured though,” jimin reminds him. 

“not with that attitude he sure isn’t! come on, guys! let’s do it for sungie!”

one by one, four more glasses join his in the air. chaeyoung is giving them a mean look, but it soon breaks as jimin puts her arm around her waist. “here comes more overtime work,” she sighs. 

“fuck yeah!” dojoon cheers, a bit too loudly for the owner’s liking, because soon he finds himself struck with a dirty towel over his head. “sorry!” he says, though he is not sorry at all.

the cheap alcohol burns his throat, but he can’t stop his smile from spreading more and more with each second that passes. 

* * *

☼

the waiter puts his cookies down next to the steaming pot of hot water. he’s been waiting long enough for it to cool down, so he carefully picks it up, and pours the liquid over his tea. the dried leaves come to live in mere seconds, raising to the top and floating carelessly around. the color that comes out of them is beautiful, and jaehyeong can already taste the aroma on his tongue.

his eyes snap up at the sound of the entrance bell ringing. he is surprised to see one of han yeonshin’s men walking in, far too early than what hajoon told him. he checks his watch just in case, but it clearly says that he is half an hour early. this means that jaehyeong will have to be more subtle.

his fingers wrap around his teacup, holding it up to his lips to take a sip. he doesn’t get to enjoy the taste of freshly brewed tea, because something-- more like someone, shadows him. 

“are you here by yourself?” 

jaehyeong is quick to identify the person, and he is not surprised when his guess turns out to be correct. 

kim woosung is staring down at him, wearing the same stupid smile he’s always seen wearing. god, jaehyeong will never understand how the man’s hair is always so unkept that a piece of it feels the need to stray away from the rest and curve  adorably stupidly upwards. 

jaehyeong squints at the man, eyes hard and cold. his smile doesn’t falter; on the contrary, it gets wider as woosung takes a seat across from him. 

“aren’t you already used to the fact that i will always show up, jaehyeong?” woosung asks, leaning in to practically  _ mock  _ jaehyeong. “you know i live to fuck up your days!”

“is that a threat?” jaehyeong finds himself questioning. he knows the answer, but it’s still worth a try.

“that is for me to know and for you to find out!” woosung winks. 

jaehyeong blinks at the officer, before standing up and announcing, “waiter, i’d like to change tables!” there is a confused  _ ‘sure’ _ from them, but they don’t really have a choice since he is already moving to another table right next to his previous one. woosung follows him, because he is a pest like that. he’s just as small as one anyway. 

“waiter, bring me a cup as well!” he says, scaring the poor employee. another  _ ‘sure’  _ escapes them, though this one is more confused. “c’mon, jae _ hyeongie,  _ we can drink together for sure!” the man cringes at the dumb nickname that woosung chose for him out of nowhere. he’d rather have the detective call him sir, or even better, to not call him at all. 

“what can i help you with, detective kim?” jaehyeong asks through gritted teeth, ignoring the infuriating smile woosung is still wearing. 

“the person that took out park chaesook… it was you, right? you gave the order.” it’s more of a statement than a question, and in this moment, jaehyeong hates how perceptive woosung truly is. 

he takes a deep breath before answering. “i already gave my statement to the police regarding the park chaesook case, officer. and along with that, i gave them my whereabouts as well, so i truly don’t get why you must come here and question me this yourself. aren’t you being grounded anyway?” he asks with a smirk. woosung’s smile turns sour at his words.  _ target struck successfully.  _

“are you sure, hyeongie? because, believe it or not, we found your cufflink at the scene.” woosung opens his phone to a photo of, sure enough, his own cufflink. jaehyeong looks at the photo unimpressed, masking his true emotions with ease. 

“that exact model is quite popular at my store, detective. it’s a good piece, simple, yet elegant. would you want me to forward our invoices to see the exact number of sales for this exact same cufflink you’ve found?” he maintains eye contact with woosung as he speaks, but the man doesn’t back up so easily. he never does. 

jaeheyong takes his eyes off for a second, watching as the man quietly sips his coffee just a few meters away from them. he’s waiting for jaehyeong to come and make a deal, but  _ god,  _ he wishes he could put a bullet straight through woosung’s head and finish everything already. 

“then… did park chaesook die because he knew something he shouldn’t? or was his death just a minor pawn you had to take off the table in order to continue your plan?” woosung looks at him, eyes full of fire and really now, when are his eyes not like this? when is the fire inside of the man dead?

“you even got park chaesook’s business partner to come back from south asia. in these four years you have been in the lead of the lee family, you never took action yourself,  _ nor  _ did you order anyone to be murdered. so, lee jaehyeong,  _ what  _ exactly are you planning? or, better question, is this something lee yunho ordered you to do before his death?” 

the man he has to meet with takes his phone out, checking for something written on it. he scoffs and stands up, throwing some money on the table before walking out of the cafe, stomping his feet as he did so. 

jaehyeong smiles at woosung, stopping him from his  well put together all over the place, totally illogical rant. “good job, detective! i am really proud of this masterpiece of a speech. too bad you couldn’t make it as short as you.” he stands up as well, buttoning his blazer. “now, i hope you brought money with you. check, please!” with one more measured smile, he leaves quickly walking after the man. 

he hears woosung protest about being left to pay for the check, but he can’t be bothered with it. and besides, it’s quite cute when he gets embarrassed, even if jaehyeong doesn’t get to see it in person this time. 

by the time he gets outside, the man is nowhere in sight. he curses woosung for a lost deal, and heads to his car, where younghyun is waiting in the driver’s seat for him. 

“sir! han’s man left much earlier! is everything ok?”

“don’t worry about it, younghyun. it’s fine, just please get me home. i have to meet with hajoon and discuss something with him.” younghyun looks at him through the mirror, but he doesn’t comment on his coldness. he just drives, and speeds up when he deems it appropriate. 

jaehyeong rests his head on the window and tries to forget the encounter with kim woosung. 

* * *

jaehyeong isn’t one for smoking, but every now and again, he feels the need for a cigarette to clear his mind. tonight, however, no matter how many cancer sticks he puts in his mouth, he can’t seem to get his brain to shut up. it keeps on replaying the same sentence, said by the same voice, like a broken record. 

_ “or, better question, is this something lee yunho ordered you to do before his death?” _

woosung has no idea what father was like. he has no right to say that  _ he  _ would order someone’s death! not when father helped him and seulgi grow, when he helped them become better! and clearly not when father loved them more than anything, and he refused to let them properly join the mob, in fear of their own safety. 

  
  


_ father smiled him as he read over the instructions carefully. the gnocchi recipe wasn’t hard by any means, but that didn’t make him any less nervous. he was cooking for him, and jaehyeong knew that father won’t hold back with his criticism.  _

_ “add the oil to the pan, circling the sides and bottom so that it coats the pan evenly…” he read outloud, holding the bottle of sunflower seed oil above the heating pan. “what if i just add it in the middle and then move the oil around, pa?”  _

_ “it won’t make a difference, but it’s better to start how i wrote for you. that way you can make sure you get the basic techniques down first before you find your preferred style of doing it, jae,” father said, taking a drag of his cigarette.  _

_ as soon as the oil was in the pan, heating nicely and  _ evenly,  _ jaehyeong took the little bit of cigarette left and threw it in the sink. “no smoking when we cook, pa! do you want seulgi to comment about the smell here again?” _

_ the older man smiled, before leaning to ruffle jaehyeong’s hair. he had to reach up, now that the young man was almost a head taller than him, but yunho didn’t mind it. on the contrary, he seemed pleased with how jaehyeong had grown in his own skin.  _

_ “now add the garlic and chilli and saute until fragrant and translucent…” jaehyeong did as written, smiling widely at the sizzle he got when the garlic was thrown in.  _

_ yunho smiled encouragingly, patting his back lightly. “you’re doing great, jae! you can soon add the gnocchi and sauce!” _

_ jaehyeong nodded along. he’d got this! he could recreate the dish perfectly!  _

_ he fucked up when he added the gnocchi.  _

_ “you have to stir it, jae, otherwise it will stick,” yunho reminded him gently, passing him the discarded spatula. the younger was quick to do as his father told him, stirring the food around. but the worse had already happened. some of the pieces stuck to the bottom, and jaehyeong wanted nothing more than to start over.  _

_ his father clasped his shoulder once more, praising him for doing so well. “you have to taste it soon, so just keep the food moving and it will be alright, ok?” _

_ jaehyeong didn’t speak, too focused on not fucking up even more. he was so close, just a few more steps and it would be done! _

_ he tasted it first, and to his disappointment, it tasted nothing like father’s. it was too bland, too overcooked. “needs more spice,” he muttered to himself, reaching for the chilli powder and putting in another spoonful. _

_ yunho watched him mortified, spoon still on its way to his mouth. he tasted it as well, and by the pained look on his face, he didn’t enjoy it as much as jaehyeong. “boy, how can you eat  _ this  _ spicy? it’s like i’m licking lava!” _

_ “it’s not  _ that  _ bad, pa! besides, i can never get it to taste like yours! i’m just doing what i think would help…” he said, turning off the stove and putting down the spatula.  _

_ “ruling a big nation is like cooking a small delicacy,” yunho said, looking up at his son. “you know this saying?” jaehyeong shook his head, so the older man continued, “all these years taking care of our organization’s small and larger details, i’ve come to realize that nothing should be made in a haste, nor neglected or at a too slow pace. you gotta be careful with each detail in order for everything to come together nicely, little jae. _

_ “let’s take cooking for example,” he pointed to where jaehyeong is plating the food, “think of each of our members as an ingredient. you have to understand each ingredient’s unique flavors before you can use them properly. after that, you can combine them how you see fit, and this way, the dish will become complete.” _

_ “ingredients you say… then, pa, what ingredient am i?” _

_ yunho thought this one through for a bit, before simply saying, “lotus root.” _

_ at that, jaehyeong made a face. “why?” _

_ “remember the first time we met? you were dirty all over.” _

_ “so you dislike me, huh,” jaehyeong chuckled. _

_ “not at all, son. when a lotus root is dirty, you can still see their potential. you just have to clean them to see how pure they truly are. so, no matter where you were born in, in what environment or family, no matter how dirty you would’ve been, i could still see the innocence in you, jae.” _

_ jaehyeong looked at his father with a look full of amazement. this was the first time he’s ever said something like this about jaehyeong’s past, and the words made him tear up. he held the tears in, and pushed a plate towards his father.  _

_ “i will try to never lose my innocence then, pa!” he said brightly, putting the pan away to wash later.  _

_ yunho ruffled his hair once more, before taking a fork and pushing the food around in his bowl. “do you know why i have this interest in cooking, son?” just like before, jaehyeong shook his head, but he doubted his father saw it with how they weren’t facing each other. “in this life we have, where we face death daily, you never know when you could meet the devil yourself. if we can’t take care of eating, the simplest task in life after breathing, then where is the fun in being alive, right?”  _

_ yunho looked at his son as he put a new cigarette between his lips. “little jae, you have to treat each meal seriously, in order to treat life more seriously as well.” _

_ “i will!” jaehyeong promised him. “and once i’m done learning how to cook, i’ll let you taste my food so that you can see i’m better than you!” _

_ “done learning!” he mocked. “you think that if you can get one thing done you’ll become a chef? keep dreamin, son!” _

_ “i’m confident in myself, papa,” he stated, giving yunho a big grin. “i will never let lee yunho’s craft get lost!” _

_ “ambitious… that’s good. but it’s far too early for you to take the spatula out of my hand, son!” _

_ “no it isn’t! i’ll become better than you sooner or later and you will have to bow down to me, pa!” _

_ yunho smiled, his eyes fond. he lightly punched the younger’s chest and said, “you better keep that promise.” _

_ “i will! now come on, we have to taste this food that isn’t as good as yours… yet!” jaehyeong said, picking up his plate and fork and heading to the dining room. yunho followed him a few minutes later, and though he could see a shadow of worry and sadness clouding his eyes, it was all forgotten as jaehyeong watched his father choke at how spicy he made the food. he was laughing so much, that he even forgot to pass him a glass of much needed water, only remembering to do so when he saw how red in the face the older had gotten.  _

  
  


jaehyeong’s feather like touch strokes the photo of him and his father. his father’s smile brings him a warmth that he had long forgotten what it feels like. “father… that person finally returned… i can finally take my revenge and bring you peace…”

he puts the frame down and takes a seat at the desk. “soon i will be able to not feel pain when i see your smile, father.”

* * *

☾

his head is dripping wet, the towel resting around his neck not doing much to catch the droplets of now cold water that slide down his neck and back. he’s had time to think in the shower, but he came to no actual conclusion. nothing except for an even bigger headache than the one he had before. 

he walks around the table, filling his glass with water. as he drinks it, he stares at jaehyeong’s face. he finds himself walking back to the other part of the table, where his case files are patiently waiting for him. 

two photos out, he holds them in front of his face. han yeonshin’s and park chaesook’s faces stare at him. “what is going on...“ he puts the photos on the board, just above jaehyeong’s picture. “boss… second in command... why did you do this jaehyeong…”

woosung sits back on the table, still staring at the portrait. “i thought you’d never kill anyone, but then why is park chaesook dead? what did he know that made you snap? why did you disappoint me like this, hyeongie…” woosung asks himself as he touches the drawing’s lips. 

he shakes his head and tries to stop overthinking. it’s late at night, and maybe it would do him better to sleep at least a few hours. 

* * *

jaehyung leaves his table with a respectful bow, his crisp uniform glistening in the light from just how pristine and new it is. dojoon and jimin are hiding behind their books a few tables away. chaeyoung is keeping an eye on them through the surveillance cameras and matthew is watching carefully from the behind the bar. the plan is perfectly crafted,  _ nothing  _ can go wrong! 

_ nothing _ except for a prick dressed in an expensive suit, walking into the little restaurant as if he owns the place. (which he may, since the prick is also a rich bastard.) 

woosung stands at an impossibly fast rate, and he is in front of jaehyeong in mere seconds, stopping him from stepping inside the little restaurant properly. “lee jaehyeong! oh, what a coincidence!” he says mockingly, eyeing the man up and down. damn, he looks good in a suit. woosung shakes his head before he can think more about how well the man would look without the fitted tuxedo on. “what brings you here, hm?”

jaehyeong looks past the shorter (not like it’s hard), before settling his eyes back on woosung’s face. his face is mostly devoid of emotion as he speaks, “you like eating taiwanese food on your own too, detective?”

“if you must know, eating is my passion.”

“right after stalking handsome men, kim?” jaehyeong throws him a smug smirk. woosung is  _ this _ close to punching that totally not handsome face. 

“you didn’t answer my question,” he says, instead. 

“i think i should be the one asking you this, officer. why are  _ you  _ here?”

woosung glances over his shoulder, making sure his friends aren’t paying enough attention to him. they are, of course their eyes are glued to him and jaehyeong, but woosung doesn’t gives a shit as he pulls the younger man out of their earshot, his hand holding tightly onto jaehyeong’s elbow. 

“i’m here to investigate the park chaesook case.”

something changes in jaehyeong’s demeanour. “oh, well, if the police is here to look into a case, then i should leave. i don’t want to disturb you or your colleagues. which, by the way, detective kim, you should tell them their disguises aren’t fooling anyone. especially dimples and shorty. their books are upside down.” before jaehyeong can leave, woosung stops him, his arm wrapping around the taller’s waist. 

“since you’re here already, why not help the police?” jaehyeong looks at him unimpressed, so woosung continues. “i’m looking for a man named han yeonshin… sounds familiar?”

the mobster’s face is unreadable, but woosung doesn’t miss the beat of silence before he says, “i don’t know him.”

it’s woosung’s turn to smirk at jaehyeong. “would you look at that? we’re here for the same reason. come on, jaehyeong. join me while i wait for han yeonshin, would you?” rolling his eyes, jaehyeong pushes past the elder, walking out of the restaurant with woosung hot on his tail. “admit it! you murdered park to lure han back in the country! don’t you dare deny it, lee, i know you better than you do.”

“well, listen,  _ kim,” _ jaehyeong spits out, “you don’t know shit about me, so shut the fuck up. just because you stalk me and know what i do on a day to day basis doesn’t mean you know  _ anything _ that goes on behind closed doors. i don’t need to prove to you i didn’t kill chaesook, though i think what i told your little friends is enough evidence, so can you just get it through that thick skull of yours that park chaesook’s death has absolutely _ nothing  _ to do with me?”

still, woosung pushes even further. “your actions lately, your… composure… everything has been off about you, jaehyeong. you’re always tense, as if waiting for someone to just appear in front of you, y’know? like  _ poof _ and there he is. han yeonshin.” woosung does a  _ poof  _ action with his hands, moving once again in front of jaehyeong to stop him from leaving him with unanswered questions. 

“but answer me this, jaehyeong, what does the drug lord of thailand have to do with you?” he gets right into jaehyeong’s face, forgetting about personal space and everything it stands for. 

the taller man looks close to fuming, and woosung can’t deny the excitement he feels when he sees the fire burning in his eyes. jaehyeong walks past him, his shoulder hitting woosung and pushing him back roughly. even so, he doesn’t stop and reaches for jaehyeong to pull him back. “don’t go!” he sounds desperate, he knows he is, but  _ god _ he’s close to cracking it, woosung is sure of it.

“are you running away because of i’m right?” 

jaehyeong doesn’t say anything, just grabs woosung’s wrist and pushes his hand off of him. he rushes down the concrete stairs and down in the parking lot, ignoring woosung’s on-going rambling. 

“does he have something to do with what happened four years ago? jaehyeong! jaehyeong, for fuck’s sake, can you just answer me?!” 

“officer kim isn’t focusing on his own investigation, but he finds time to violate my human rights? how about you go back to playing cop with your friends, hm?” 

“call me dumb, but if my guess is right then this also counts as an investigating method so…” woosung shrugs, giving jaehyeong the cockiest smile he can muster. oh, how good it feels to make the younger ready to swing a punch at his head. 

jaehyeong takes a deep breath. “officer kim, i have to bid you goodbye now. and, i have to say you are, indeed, very dumb for thinking like this.” hand resting on the door handle, ready to open the door and get as far away from woosung as possible, woosung puts his hand over the window, promptly keeping the door shut.

“han yeonshin was a member of the park’s group, so really, what the fuck are you trying to do? you killed their main leader, why go back to the former? you can destroy the ring now, they’re headless chickens running around, so just…  _ why?” _

woosung focuses on jaehyeong again, and now, for the first time since knowing him, woosung can say he’s really pissed the younger off. “for the past four years, i put up with your shit, but fucking  _ god,  _ kim, my patience is running really fucking thin now. so please, before i pull my gun out on you, leave me  _ alone.” _ jaehyeong shoves woosung back and gets in the car. 

the officer practically  _ bolts _ around the car to get on the other side and get in before jaehyeong can start it. “if i’m not going to get the truth out from you today then i’m not letting you go.”

as woosung fights the man to get him away from the handbrake, jaehyeong finally snaps. his hand wraps tightly around both of woosung’s wrists, maneuvering them harshly above the elder’s head. 

“for the last time before i actually shoot you… get. out. of. my.  _ car.” _ jaehyeong makes sure to accentuate every word, but despite the small feeling of fear woosung gets (he definitely isn’t turned on right now, nope) woosung simply reaches for the seatbelt. 

everything that follows happens too fast for woosung to truly comprehend it. one moment jaehyeong is punching him square in the face and holding a gun at his temple, the next, two men pull them out of the car, more guns pointed at both of them this time. they’re fighting side by side, in such a way that everything seems to be working out for them. they’re in sync, so much so that woosung is scared about how the first time he and jaehyeong got together is because of someone wanting to presumably kill the latter. 

they throw punches left and right and get hit just as many times, but nothing stops them from fighting. there is no way in hell a couple of thugs could put down the best detective in seoul and… a mobster. 

but somehow, two little thugs, with a knife and a bat  _ do  _ manage to put them down. one of them punches woosung in the gut hard enough to make him fall on the ground, clutching his stomach and the other hit jaehyeong one too many times, so that when he’s down, jaehyeong has the knife next to his throat.

“boss wants to see you.” 

and that’s how a prick in an expensive suit ruins woosung’s perfectly crafted plan and manages to get himself and woosung kidnapped. and on top of it all, they get handcuffed together, because of course tweedledum and tweedledee found the handcuffs woosung carries with him (because he is a responsible police officer, not because he wants to get stuck with his biggest enemy).

“i never thought i’d be this close to you… and cuffed with my own gear too,” woosung mumbles, glaring at jaehyeong. 

“not your first time, officer kim,” jaehyeong answers. the car takes an abrupt turn and woosung is sent into jaehyeong’s shoulder. he pushes himself off of the younger, but the smell of his cologne still lingers. woosung feels something fuzzy in his gut when he turns to look out the window.

“it’s all your fault you sarcastic prick!” the officer lifts their hands up, dangling his and making jaehyeong’s flop around as well. “is this what you wanted? you could’ve told me what i asked you to, but  _ nooooo, _ why would the mighty lee jaehyeong admit that dumbass kim woosung is right and that he’s getting closer to unveiling the truth?”

jaehyeong rolls his eyes, yanking his arm down and settling with it on his thigh so that woosung is close to touching him.  _ sick bastard,  _ woosung thinks,  _ he’s probably enjoying this.  _ “so what, now it’s my fault you didn’t leave me alone?” 

tweedledee in the back points the  _ scary, sharp  _ knife at them. “stop arguing for a damn second, will ya? you’re making me wish i killed you both!”

facing him, jaehyeong gives the man an innocent look. “you know it’s bad to kidnap a cop, right? you’ll be in great trouble.”

“ya should worry about your own safety,” tweedledum says, not bothering to look at the backseat. 

they both settle back in their seats, defeated, but it’s not until a few seconds later that woosung feels (and sees from the corner of his eye) jaehyeong’s pinkie touching his, to catch his attention. 

when he looks at the younger, jaehyeong is giving him subtle looks, pointing with his eyes somewhere behind woosung. the man frowns, because  _ what the hell is the fucker trying to do now?  _ only when jaehyeong tells him  _ distract him, you idiot  _ with a simple glare does woosung catch the drift. 

“hey, why do bad guys  _ always  _ drive these ugly white vans? i mean, no offence, but why are you so cliche, hm?”

“oh,  _ god,  _ can you just shut up?” tweedledee asks. 

“no, really! i’m genuinely curious!” in his seat, jaehyeong reaches for the roof handle, pulling himself upwards to gain momentum. “i just--  _ now!” _ and jaehyeong hits tweedledum in the face with so much force that the car almost  _ spins _ at how he pulls on the steering wheel. woosung grabs the handbrake and makes the car stop, almost hitting a tree on the side of the road. he gets sent in the front, where despite the inconvenience with having jaehyeong cuffed to his left hand, he still manages to hit the driver in the exact same spot where the mobster did it before him. 

just like how they fought in the parking lot, jaehyeong and woosung work together well enough to get out of the car. tweedledum is out, head fallen on the wheel, blood gushing out of his nose, but dee is putting up a fight, damned be his knife. it cuts straight through woosung’s flesh when he tries to protect jaehyeong (why? because he wants him in prison), but he’s suffered worse. 

“you go first, jaehyeong!” he yells, as he tries to make the younger stop punching dee. he’s already passed out, but the adrenaline is rushing through both of them. jaehyeong leads him out, running in front of him. a car stops meters away from theirs, and their only option is to go straight into the forest. 

he can feel blood pouring out of his wound, but there is no pain to accompany it. there is just fear of being caught, of having to die next to… jaehyeong of all people. he focuses on keeping his arm close to his body as he runs after jaehyeong. despite them being in a forest now, there doesn’t seem to be one place for them to hide from the tweedle twins.2 that are following them now. 

“fuck, shit, this way!” he says, keeping his voice quiet as he pulls the younger to the right. 

jaehyeong stops him, pulling him to the left. “it’s too open! c’mon, kim!” 

they end up hidden behind a tree, squatting down, with jaehyeong’s body covering his. the voices around them die down as the two men look for woosung and jaehyeong farther and farther away from their hiding spot. “let’s go, we should find a better place to--” just as woosung stands up, tweedle twins seem to come back out of nowhere. 

this time, when they run, it’s more riskier. woosung feels cornered, despite being in the open. subconsciously, he grabs jaehyeong’s hand, pulling him behind a fallen tree trunk as he checks his phone. 

“how the fuck did i break this?” woosung hits the device with his hand. “it won’t open… jaehyeong! call the cops on your phone!”

jaehyeong’s eyes are dead as he says, “ _ you  _ are the cops! and look where that’s gotten us! and ‘sides, i didn’t bring my phone.”

“what kind of caveman…” woosung stops himself as the men get near them again. jaehyeong’s body is far too close again, but unlike last time, now he is pressing woosung on the trunk. his arm hurts, but he can’t bring himself to push the man away, despite the way his weight is leaning on the wound. 

time seems to stop, the pain is getting worse by the second. the adrenaline is going down, and the forest around them gets quiet once more. 

“i think it’s safe,” jaehyeong whispers in his ear. he’s brought down to earth again and he realizes just how close he is to woosung. he jerks back, as if burned. they don’t even realize they’ve been holding hands until woosung looks at the metal that binds them. he jumps, trying to distance himself, but he can’t do much. 

“god, it would be so much easier without these damned cuffs,” woosung curses.

“who brought them, idiot?”

“fine! it’s my fault! happy?”

jaehyeong rolls his eyes, exasperated. he feels the knuckle of his thumb, takes a deep breath and just… he fucking breaks his thumb, sliding the handcuff off his wrist without even a simple grimace of hurt on his face. woosung looks at him stunned. jaehyeong doesn’t seem affected; he snaps it back in place as if nothing has happened. his arm doesn’t hurt anymore. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> woosung is sure this one is bound to go in his top three moments-spent-within-five-meters-of-jaehyeong-without-killing-each-other list.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> two upates in not even 5 days??? who wouldve thought??? but yea, idk if anyone is actually reading this fic but i'm determined to finish it lmaooo

✫

for the fifth time, dojoon knocks rapidly on woosung’s door. “dude, c’mon, i know you’re in there! open up!” he yells, taking his phone out to call his best friend again. it goes straight to the voice message option, and had he not been worried before, he sure as hell is when he breaks into woosung’s apartment and he finds no trace of the elder. 

“for fuck’s sake, where are you, man?” he curses aloud. jaehyeong’s face stares at him from its place on the wall. “did you take my friend, lee? i swear to god i’ll punch you if you did that.” dojoon frowns at the drawing. “jesus, i’m going insane. i’ll end up like captain jin soon.”

he shudders at the thought, getting chills when he remembers the way captain almost popped a vein today when he found out they lost woosung. it’s not his fault he can’t put a chip on his best friend yet! he tried plenty of times before, but whenever he brought the idea to taehyung or jihyo, the two nurses would just roll their eyes and apologize for not being able to chip the man like a dog. 

calling woosung one more time, he gives up after leaving him a rather angry (though, by the end of it, the anger melted into worry) voice message. “stupid woo, with his stupid obsession,” dojoon grumbles, running down the stairs and going outside once again. “how the hell am i supposed to find him if i don’t even know where he went…” he contemplates showing up at jaehyeong’s store, just in case the man took woosung with him to teach him a lesson about stalking and what is deemed acceptable about it in a normal world (read: nothing). 

sure, there would be the idea of walking in a handstand and retrace woosung’s steps, but that would mean going back to the restaurant and then from there he should walk down the stairs on his hands which isn’t ideal. 

dojoon’s eyes widen. the cctv from the restaurant! god, they are truly stupid! if woosung had been taken away, then the cameras would’ve caught the kidnapper, provided that woosung had been kidnapped and not, god forbid, shot by jaehyeong for annoying him again. 

just as he’s about to call jimin and let her know that he’s heading to the restaurant, he bumps into someone. dojoon is ready to apologize and move on, when he finally looks at the person he’s bumped into, only to be met with a devilish grin and a mop of blonde hair. 

“officer park! what a surprise!” hajoon says, far too loudly for it to be considered normal behaviour, but it’s no surprise coming from him. after all, the mercenary does have a thing for being just a tad too boisterous and out there. 

“no thank you, hajoon,” dojoon says, pushing past the man and dialing jimin’s number. the blond doesn’t let him pass, instead throwing his arm around dojoon’s shoulders and pulling him close.

“i don’t think you have much of a choice here, officer.” and with that, hajoon simply drags him away. too stunned, dojoon doesn’t realize what’s happening until it’s too late, and he finds himself in the backseat of a licenseless car, with a mercenary that is too fond of butterfly knives and handguns driving him to god knows where. 

dojoon would be lying if he were to say that he’s not scared. he’s not shitting himself yet, because really, hajoon wouldn’t kill him like _that._ he wouldn’t kill him, period. dojoon carefully eyes the mercenary, only to receive a cheshire grin from him through the rear mirror. dojoon shudders, a chill running down his spine. he might actually believe it when he sees it.

“give me your phone, officer,” hajoon says once they stop at a red light. when he notices dojoon’s confused look, he adds, “what, you think i’ll just let you have your phone and possibly call your little cop friends? no offence, officer, but you’d be really dumb if you actually thought that!”

“and if i don’t do that?”

“well, who’s to say what can happen next?” hajoon throws him a smirk over his shoulder before turning his attention back to the road. “would you like to find out?”

“no, but i’d like to wipe that smile off your mug, punk,” dojoon shoots at him. he throws his phone on the front seat, hoping that the screen won’t crack. 

the blond’s smile doesn’t falter one bit. on the contrary, whenever dojoon looks at him and he finds him already staring at the brunet through the mirror, the mercenary’s grin only widens. huffing everytime, dojoon can’t help but think just how annoyingly pretty hajoon is. 

five minutes pass, then ten, and when what feels like an hour goes by, the car finally comes to a stop. dojoon lets out a loud, exasperated sigh when he notices  _ where  _ they parked. 

“oh, come  _ on, _ dude! did you really have to bring me to lee jaehyeong’s house?!"

“how do you…”

“maybe because i’m a police officer? and i just so happen to know where i need to come and get woo when he ends up chasing your boss on his very much  _ free _ saturday evening!” throwing the door open, dojoon glares at hajoon. “i just want  _ one _ day that won’t involve jaehyeong, man. am i asking for too much?” as the blond reaches his side, his hand finding its place on dojoon’s elbow, the brunet is too set up to even care about the circumstances he’s in. “i swear, sometimes i feel like  _ i’m _ the one who’s in love with lee!”

“wait detective kim is in love with boss?”

rolling his eyes, dojoon starts to walk towards the house. “i’m getting too ahead of myself here. it’s not time for  _ them _ to know that yet. now can you just lock me up already? i promise i’ll pretend to beg for help.”

dojoon doesn’t know where the actual fear he was feeling in the car disappeared to, but for now, as hajoon ties his hands behind a chair in a way too gentle way for someone who just kidnapped him, dojoon thinks of just about all the ways he can curse woosung before he gets his hands on him again. 

the worry that’s been overshadowed comes back, though smaller this time. dojoon sags in his chair (a pretty comfortable one, if he’s being honest) and bites his bottom lip as his eyes dart around the room. there isn’t much that can help him now that he’s basically surrounded himself to a mercenary, but he hopes that hajoon is after the same thing as him. 

🝰

hajoon wouldn’t consider himself a sadist, nor a criminal. something more along the lines of a misunderstood bastard with a strange attraction to knives. really, he’s nothing bad when it comes to people who don’t deserve it. which is precisely why he handles dojoon with such care. sure, he’s ready to slice his throat were he to point a gun at him, but hajoon can’t stop the sudden urge to protect this sarcastic ray of sunshine who seems to hate his boss just a bit too much. protect him from anyone but his own blade. 

he really hopes he won’t ever have to hurt the officer. 

the man doesn’t even protest when hajoon closes the door behind him, leaving him alone in jaehyeong’s interrogation room. he looks more bored, if anything. that and really,  _ really  _ exasperated. if that is aimed at hajoon kidnapping him out of the blue or at woosung disappearing with his boss, the blond can’t tell. 

younghyun glances at him from his phone, hair disheveled from running his hands through it so many times already. he’s far more stressed than hajoon is, but he doesn’t have an ace up his sleeve in the form of a sassy twunk. 

“why are you here? i told you to go look for jeahyeong! you have  _ one  _ job, hajoon, can you just do it properly for once?” 

hajoon rolls his eyes. “always the stingy one, younghyun. i  _ am  _ doing my job, should you actually care. but whatever, just keep yelling and hope you grab jae’s attention like that, sweetheart.” he rushes out of the room just as the man picks up his gun and cocks it, pointing it at hajoon’s head. pissing younghyun off is just  _ too easy. _

when he reenters the prisoner dungeon, he’s still giggling from having fucked up younghyun’s day even more. he really lives for moments like this, when the man is already ready to rip his hair out due to stress and just one smug smile can make him shoot at hajoon’s head with an empty gun. it’s what makes his job more enjoyable, right after the daily kim woosung rants he gets from jaehyeong. 

dojoon aims his glares at him, sparing the floor for a moment. hajoon simply smiles back, heading towards him and taking a seat in front of the brunet. “where did kim woosung take my boss, little one?”

“i’m pretty sure i’m taller than you, blondie,” dojoon huffs. “and besides, it’s not  _ woosung  _ who took jaehyeong. it’s your boss’ fault!”

hajoon snorts. “it’s your friend who threatens to kill jaehyeong.”

“yes but he wouldn’t  _ do  _ it! he’s dumb but not  _ that _ dumb! he doesn’t want to be thrown in jail because of a slimy bastard like lee jaehyeong.” 

hajoon has to give it to him, he’s right.  _ damn it, bossman, why can’t you be less of an ass?  _ “let’s say you’re right and jaehyeong would’ve been the one to take your friend away… i’m not saying you are, just, you know, hypothetically… it would still be your friend who annoyed my boss so much that he felt the need to kill him.” 

“ _ what?!” _ dojoon yells, eyes widening. “if he tries something funny i’ll murder him myself!” he’s adorable when he’s ready to kill. “ugh, did you kidnap me just to tell me that your stupid ass boss might’ve killed my best friend or do you actually want to find them?!” 

the blond rolls his eyes. leave it for the police to be as dense as possible. “do you have a plan, little one?”

“actually, i do, you ripe banana. before you kidnapped me--”

“may i remind you came here willingly?”

“ _ i  _ was going to the restaurant where we lost woo to check the cctv.” dojoon finishes promptly, throwing a nasty glare at hajoon. “but yeah, your plan of taking me here and keeping me hostage is  _ so much  _ more effective!” he slumps back in his chair. “fucking dumb ass mercenary,” he mumbles under his breath. 

“already did it, officer. which is why i came to get you. so stop playing dumb and tell me where your friend too my boss.”

“you already checked the cctv?! show me! god, why didn’t you tell me this in the first place?!”

“it’s fun to watch you squirm,” hajoon shrugs. he takes his phone out and shows dojoon everything. and by everything, he means the ten second footage of jaehyeong and woosung talking before both of them walk down the stairs, woosung presumably yelling at his boss while jaehyeong ignores him. 

“fuck… why is woo such an idiot. are you sure it’s either one of them who took each other? what if… your boss has enemies, right? so what if someone came there for jaehyeong but since woo was there as well they took them both?” 

_ shit,  _ it does make sense. especially with yeonshin back in the country and chaesook’s people still hot on their tail. right now he really regrets not having put a chip on jaehyeong when seulgi proposed the idea to him a few months ago. 

still, hajoon smiles down at the captive. “knew i did the right thing when i kidnapped you.”

“aha! so you admit it!” 

ignoring the man, hajoon moves to kneel behind him and cut the ropes. they fall on the ground and dojoon jumps to his feet. “took you long enough. now, can i go pee before we leave?”

the threatening aura leaves dojoon, and once again he looks like an innocent boy. hajoon nods, not bothering to tell him where the bathroom is. if younghyun were to beat him up, he could just step in between them and save dojoon, ending up looking like the hero he never got to be. 

he needs to find his boss quick, before he accidentally ends up calling dojoon adorable and risk ending up with a bullet in between his eyes. not that he would mind dying by the end of his gun. both metaphorically and literally. that and he doesn’t want him or woosung killing each other from being in close proximity for too long. 

the only question that remains is  _ where _ they are. jaehyeong’s phone is dead, and he doubts woosung’s is in a better state. looking after them would be like a headless chicken running around. but he can’t wait for his boss to show up at his door, be it dead or alive. sitting around waiting isn’t a possibility, but neither is checking every single nook and cranny in seoul and the woods close to it. 

the woods… that could be it… he has to wait for dojoon to come back before he leaves. maybe the man has a seventh sense just for woosung’s whereabouts. 

hajoon sighs, picking up the ropes and throwing it on the torture table. he didn’t take this job to babysit a mafia boss  _ or _ to have to deal with a pretty officer. he should’ve listened to his mother when she told him to become a chef.

* * *

☾

they’ve been running for so long now, jaehyeong far ahead of him, stopping every now and again to make sure woosung didn’t fall. woosung appreciates the thought, but he’d rather not have the man worry for him. he can take care of himself despite not seeming so. 

there’s a dull ache in his legs from having climbed up and down fallen trees, trying not to break his leg by tripping on rocks. jaehyeong seems to have no problem, moving freely despite wearing a fitted suit. woosung hopes that the glares he shoots at the back of his head will have an effect on him and make him fall face down in the mud. 

“you know we’re just going deeper into the woods right? we’re supposed to go  _ down _ and find the road, lee,” woosung calls, making jaehyeong stop and turn to squint at him. he doesn’t say a word, just turns back to the path ahead. “fine, ignore me, dipshit. see if i care when the minions come back to us and murder us in cold blood--” 

“let’s go in that house, kim,” jaehyeong says, cutting him off and grabbing the smaller man by his wrist to drag him to the abandoned house that just so happens to be in the middle of the forest. judging by all the horror movies he’s ever watched, this seems like such a bad idea.  _ but, _ even if the house turns out to be haunted or the den of a serial killer, woosung has jaehyeong with him. he can use the mobster as a human shield while he runs away! the gods are truly by his side today! except for letting him get kidnapped and cut and handcuffed to his enemy and lost in the woods without his phone  _ nor  _ gun. it’s a… complicated relationship. 

“shouldn’t we try to get out of here first?” 

“it’s going to be dark soon. we can’t go out into the woods without any light. you’ll fall and i don’t want to carry you all the way to civilization,” jaehyeong huffs, looking through the house to make sure there is no one hiding in it. it’s not like these four walls will give them much protection; there are no windows, the door is laying on the concrete floor, a hole punched through the side and the only sign of anything alive having been here (anything but bugs and animals) are some wood pallets left behind, some resting on the wall, some down on the floor. 

“is this all part of your plan to get rid of me?” woosung asks… jokingly. he only half means it.

jaehyeong rolls his eyes at him, before ignoring woosung altogether. woosung sighs. two can play this game. he bends down, wiping some of the dust from the pallet, not like it would make much of a difference with how destroyed his jeans already are, and sits down. he hisses when he accidentally puts pressure on his wounded arm. 

the cut isn’t deep, at least that’s how it felt when the knife dug into his arm, but as woosung slowly pulls his jacket off to inspect the damage, he comes to realize that it’s only due to the adrenaline that he didn’t feel so much pain. the cut  _ is  _ deep, angry red with dried blood around it, the skin just as ugly. it takes him a while before he manages to take the take the jacket off, finding difficulty in pulling it off the injured arm. 

he can see jaehyeong staring at him from the corner of his eyes, the man still next to the window on self-proclaimed lookout duty. woosung is too caught up in trying not to open up the cut even more to care about the mobster’s staring problem. 

the only worry on his mind right now is that he needs to stop the bleeding. sure, most of the blood is dried and clogged, stopping the hemorrhage, but some is still gushing out. he could rip his jacket sleeve off and use it as a makeshift tourniquet, but woosung doesn’t have the strength in him to stand up let alone rip a piece of thick material off. that leaves him with only one option on hand. press right above the wound and pray that he doesn’t need to have his arm amputated. it’s better than leaving it be, though this isn’t optimal. 

jaehyeong throws his tie in his face, looking impassive as always. “use that, you idiot.”

woosung stares at the cloth, the very expensive tie glaring angrily at him. “thanks…” he says, “but you don’t have to help me.”

jaehyeong rolls his eyes (he does that a lot, woosung noticed, at least when he’s with him) and kneels next to him. woosung cringes at the way he so carelessly sits in the dirt, not caring about the expensive suit. “shut up, kim. at least let me pay for you protecting me.” he tugs the tie out of woosung’s mouth, shaking his head at the poor execution of tying it above his cut. jaehyeong’s hands are surprisingly gentle as he wraps it around, making sure that it’s tight enough to stop the bleeding but not too tight to make woosung’s arm lose all blood circulation. 

“it’s my job…” woosung mumbles, “not like i have much of a choice.” jaehyeong raises an eyebrow at his words, a silent  _ ‘really now?’  _ hanging in the air. “look, you’re not  _ technically  _ a murderer until i can actually prove it. so yeah, that makes you a civilian and as a police officer i have to protect you, like it or not.” he finishes with a shrug, but he doesn’t think that in doing so he will have to move his arm, making jaehyeong accidentally pull on the tie a bit too roughly, which, in extent makes pain shoot down his arm. “fuck,” he hisses. 

jaehyeong fixes him with a look, one that lets him know that jaehyeong means  _ ‘you’re an idiot’ _ without woosung having to be a genius. which, is implied in his statement. “stay still, will you? i know you have too much energy from having to contain it in your small body, but please, for a minute at least keep calm.”

“i’m going to pretend i didn’t hear that,” woosung says with a frown, though deep down he does want to knee the man in his chin from choosing to take a jab at his height right now. 

“ok, shrimpy,” jaehyeong scoffs. 

“can you just say thank you without insulting me? is it  _ that  _ hard--” this time, jaehyeong purposely pulls on the tie. woosung whines in pain. 

“thank you,” jaehyeong says with an eerily serene smile. it drops in seconds, the same emotionless expression coming back on the man’s face. he stands, wiping the dust and dirt of his pants. 

woosung rushes to follow. “hey! that’s not how you say thank you!” 

“then how should i say it?” when woosung doesn’t speak, jaehyeong snorts. “that’s what i thought. now, is that how  _ you  _ should respond?”

woosung pouts slightly, refusing to meet his eyes. “you’re welcome i guess.” he’s petty, sue him, but he wants jaehyeong to  _ mean  _ that thank you. 

“good boy.” the words are spoken with such a lack of feelings that woosung shivers. “now be a good dog and wait here, will you?”

“what?! no! where are you going? let me come with you it’s dangerous!”

the mobster stops him with a firm hand on his chest, pushing him back far too gently for someone who could probably kill him in seconds. “i said  _ stay, _ kim. you’d only slow me down. just, wait here for me and try not to die while doing it, understood?”

woosung knows he can’t argue with him, but he doesn’t want to feel even more useless. it  _ is _ his fault they got kidnapped. had he not been a stubborn fuck and follow jaehyeong to his car the man could have escaped the jokes that his attackers were. it’s his fault they got handcuffed and jaehyeong had to break his own thumb to take it off. it’s his fault he has a deep cut on his forearm. his shoulders sag in defeat. 

“good officer. be careful,” jaehyeong says, turning on his heel to leave without waiting for woosung to respond. 

“don’t you fucking dare come back injured too, lee!” he says.

“i’m not the dumb one here, officer.”

woosung grinds his teeth together and watches as the man’s back disappear into the mass of trees, not having the energy to argue. not like jaehyeong is wrong anyway. he falls back on the wood pallet, the handcuffs rattling at the sudden action. woosung rubs his eyes, sighing as he digs the heels of his palms into the sockets to stop the tears that threaten to dall. he’s such an idiot.

☼

when he gets back to the house, arms full of twigs and dried pieces of wood, he finds woosung still sitting on the pallet, staring into nothing. he doesn’t even hear him when he drops the wood on the ground, nor does he seem to notice the way jaehyeong coughs to grab his attention. the thought of woosung having gone into shock crosses his mind, and as gently as he can he puts a hand on woosung’s shoulder. the man startles, eyes widening and head snapping up to look at jaehyeong. 

“i’m going to start a fire, ok? you want to help?” he keeps his voice steady, not wanting to make woosung feel even more anxious. woosung nods slowly, seeming to come back. he pushes himself up, and jaehyeong resists the urge to help him to his feet. 

he’s done this before countless of times, so lighting a fire comes naturally to jaehyeong. he gathers the smaller twigs in a circle, lights some with his lighter, and gently blows it to get the flame started. then, he adds some of the larger pieces and patiently waits for them to set aflame too. not caring about the state of his suit anymore, he sits down, back resting on the wall behind him. 

he passes a twig to woosung, and the man throws it in the growing fire without much thought. “thanks for getting us woodfire,” he says. his voice and expression are brighter now, and jaehyeong ignores the relief that floods him. “but man, couldn’t you find some food on your quest? maybe some chicken or kimchi jjigae?” he jokes, throwing jaehyeong a smile. jaehyeong doesn’t smile back, because really, kim woosung is a nuisance and everything that comes out of his mouth is pure idiocy. “gee, sorry.”

rolling his eyes, jaehyeong throws some more wood in the fire. woosung rolls his eyes back, as in a challenge. the police officer stands up then, gathering some wood in his arms, careful of his fucekd up one. 

“what are you doing?” 

“starting a fire inside? there are too many windows here and if we were to sleep here we’d just freeze to death in a few hours when the fire ceases.”

“you think i’d sleep inside with you?”

woosung nods, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “unless you wanna die of hypothermia, then yes.” he walks past jaehyeong, reaching to pick up the discarded lighter. jaehyeong is fast to catch his wrist and stop him, glaring angrily at the smaller man. “how do you want me to start the fire? just give me the lighter, lee, i’ll give it back to you anyway.”

jaehyeong stares at him, the small metal object burning his palm. he shakes his head, reaches for a lit wood piece and wordlessly hands it to woosung. said man takes it with a confused look on his face. “it’s just a lighter, the fuck is wrong with you?” he mumbles, walking in the room and getting started on the fire. he’s still grumbling about jaehyeong’s weird outburst, but jaehyeong himself can’t bring himself to care about what the man may think of him now. his opinion was already bad so who cares about another black dot on the neverending list. 

  
  


_ jaehyeong pays attention the way yunho lits up his cigarette, the view that spreads miles upon miles below, around and in front of him. his father will get himself killed with those cancer sticks someday.  _

_ yunho smiles at him gently, holding his lighter out for him to take. “here, have this.” _

_ the young boy frowns and shakes his head, pushing the offered gift to its rightful owner. “as if i’d take that. you didn’t raise an idiot, pa,” jaehyeong snorts, “what do you want for it?” _

_ “what do you mean, jae?” yunho asks, tilting his head to the side, in feigned innocence. _

_ “pa, one of the first things you thought me and seulgi was to never accept anything from anyone, because nothing comes your way for free. so quit playing dumb and tell me.” he tries to glare at his father, but his attempt only lasts him five seconds, before he notices the proud look yunho is giving him and jaehyeong can’t help the embarrassing blush that spreads on his face.  _

_ “you really are my son, huh,” yunho muses. a moment passes, his cigarette smoking itself in his hand and then the older pretends to weep. “oh, how fast you grow up! what happened to my little boy, my sweet baby,” he sobs. it’s so poorly acted that it hurts jaehyeong to witness.  _

_ “cut the bullshit old man.” _

_ yunho laughs wholeheartedly. he slides the lighter in the palm of jaehyeong’s hand, holding it there until the younger stops struggling to give it back. “clean the name of the lee family. legitimise the whole business.” _

_ jaehyeong stares at him, mouth agape and confusion written on his face. “you’re doing that already, why are you…” _

_ “i want you to continue when i won’t be able to do the same.” _

_ the boy pales at the implication behind the elder’s words. “don’t say that, pa… you… you’re not going to die,” he insists, not sure if he’s trying to convince himself or yunho.  _

_ yunho turns to lean on the railing, eyes fixed ahead and focused on the building. yunho’s plan of legitimising the group isn’t going smoothly, jaehyeong knows that from the little bits he catches whenever yunho is talking on the phone at night, and it’s clearly taking a toll on him. his dark circles are getting deeper and bigger than usual, his face looks paler, cheeks hollowed from sleepless nights piled on top of each other. jaehyeong can’t do anything about it, no matter how much he hates it. he can’t tell father to stop, he won’t listen. not even when it’s seulgi begging him to take a break; father is too stubborn.  _

_ “you know that’s not true, jae,” yunho finally speaks, pulling jaehyeong out of his thoughts. “we work,” he snorts, shaking his head, “we’re part of a dangerous thing. this whole gang situation means you live today and you die tomorrow. there’s nothing certain about our lives.” _

_ jaehyeong shrugs. “isn’t this what life basically is?”  _

_ yunho hums. “so you’ll accept?” _

_ “you won’t let me say no, right?” _

_ “on the contrary: i  _ know _ you won’t say no, jae. if there is anyone who should do this then that person it’s you. you hate drugs the most in the whole lee family.”yunho takes the last drag of the cigarette, stubbing it out on the metal railing. “you need money to survive in this world, son, and the money we make through killing, drugs, fighting, they’re all dirty money. i want to give our family a better life; i want to do it for you and seulgi.” sighing, the man throws an arm around jaehyeong’s shoulders, pulling his son close. “you need to be prepared for the worst in this evil world we live in. i’m begging you, jae, accept it. do what i can’t.” _

_ jaehyeong stays quiet, staring ahead.  _

_ “humans are weak and you know it. with just one push, they can break so easily. i don’t want you to be tested the way you were and still are anymore. give me the lighter back, i need another one.” jaehyeong sighs, holding the lighter out to light the stick between his father’s lips. “i’ve come to realize after many, many years, that having a normal life is true happiness. there is nothing better than that.” _

_ “what good is there to have a normal life if those around you will treat you like dirt?” _

_ yunho exhales, looking up at the starry sky. “you don’t get it son. having a normal life is a privilege to us. i’ve caused many people in our family and not only to give up on it, i owe them so much, but there is no way i can repay them in this life.” _

_ jaehyeong hits his shoulder with his, squinting at the older man. “are you talking about women, pa?” _

_ yunho chuckles. “one day, a person  _ or more _ will come into your life and they will make you understand what a normal life feels like.” jaehyeong honestly doubts it. “so, do you agree?” _

_ looking at the lighter in his hand, jaehyeong nods. “okay. i accept, i will continue your wish if you were to die. i’ll do it even if it kills me--” _

_ “don’t say that,” yunho cuts him off. “you have a single life, jaehyeongie. don’t waste it on your old man’s wish.  _

_ “when you’re in the mob, you have to understand you life today, you die tomorrow,” jaehyeong simply answers, a smile tugging at his lips.  _

_ yunho pretends to sob again, pulling jaehyeong in for a hug. “ahhhh, i knew you were my boy! jaehyeongie… not bad for someone who isn’t the boss yet…” _

  
  


the wood cracking is a mere background noise for him, the sparks that rise from the fire and dance in the dark only making it easier for him to get lost in thought. he feeds the fire some more, not wanting it to die down yet. the night ahead of them is still long, and fire only lasts so much to keep them from dying. 

inside the house, he can hear woosung shuffling on the wood pallet to get into a more comfortable position. “it’s admirable how you can fall asleep anywhere, kim,” jaehyeong muses, continuing to throw twigs in the fire, watching it eat them rapidly. 

woosung stands, looking at the man outside. “you know, to be a person is to be able to go with the flow… a young master like you will never understand what’s like to not have a bed to sleep.”

jaehyeong hates the words he uses. woosung doesn’t know  _ shit _ about what’s it like to a normal person. he doesn’t know what’s it like to not have a bed. he doesn’t know what real struggle is. “do you know what’s it like to know the art of escaping, kim?” he hears the man stop moving. “you need to start at a young age. bend your thumb, more and more until it snaps. let it heal, break it again. it heals, break it, it heals, break it, heal,  _ break. _ an endless cycle until one day you learn it. your thumb doesn’t hurt when you do it and the pain that does shoot through your body means nothing anymore. enlighten me, officer, what young master, born with a golden spoon to their mouth, grows up this way?”

throwing the last twig near him in the flame, jaehyeong stands up. 

“who forced you to do this?” ah, ever the dumb woosung with even dumber questions is back. 

“no one forced me to. i did myself. when the will to survive is great, you find yourself doing anything.”

“so, what you’re trying to say is that, it’s not that you can’t sleep, but more so that you’re  _ afraid  _ to?” jaehyeong wants to laugh internally at how sure woosung sounds. “you want to not be afraid anymore, right? you want to leave the gang life, which is why you’re doing anything it takes to go legit,  _ right?” _ kim woosung is the dumbest man jaehyeong has ever had the displeasure to meet. 

“i’m doing it under the cover of everything. sailing under false colors, if you want. pretending to go legitimate just to actually--”

“sorry,” woosung blurts out, closer to him now. he didn’t even hear him stand up and follow him to the window. “i was too arrogant and i may have judged you only on what i saw… i let myself be blinded by anger… i’m really sorry…” when jaehyeong doesn’t answer him, woosung pushes even more, “can you react in any way at least?”

jaehyeong turns to look at him, a mocking look on his face. “it’s the first time i’ve ever seen a dog examine himself and realize that his actions have consequences.” he’s as touched by the apology as he normally is by woosung’s dumb face, which is not that much if he’s being honest, but at least there is something. 

“who are you calling a dog?!” woosung asks, indignated. jaehyeong nods at him, smirking when the officer huffs angrily at him. “fine, be like that! but know that even if you’re trying to go legit, i’ll still be watching you closely. if you try to do something against the law i won’t hesitate to throw you in jail and make sure you never get out.”

jaehyeong quirks both eyebrows in surprise. “watch me?”

“yes, watch you.” woosung glares up at him. “with both eyes. fuck it! i’ll even open my third eye to keep on you, lee,” the officer throws over his shoulder, now heading back to the ‘bed’. 

“that’s really romantic of you, officer kim. i have to say it, i’m deeply touched.” jaehyeong moves back to his spot by the fire, picking up more wood to throw into it as he does so. the only thing he gets in response is a snore. woosung is already out and his head barely touched the pallet. truly admirable.

* * *

jaehyeong wakes up confused, with a dull ache in his neck and frozen hands despite having curled up with them hidden in between his thighs. woosung’s thigh hasn’t been the most comfortable place to rest his head on, but it was the only option he had. that and he wanted to keep his legs at least a bit warm. he had both jaehyeong’s and his own jacket draped over his upper body, but the officer was still shivering once the fire stopped burning. 

he wakes up thanks to woosung pulling his jacket closer to his body, the man shivering uncontrollably while muttering in his sleep about how cold it is. jaehyeong wastes no time in getting to his feet. now that the sun is up, they need to get going. he walks outside, checks the surroundings for anyone that would want to capture them again and when he finds no one, he enters the house again. he does this in under a minute, because even from the outside he can still hear woosung’s teeth chattering from the shivers. 

“kim woosung,” he says, trying to get the smaller man to wake up, but to no avail. 

squatting down in front of the sleeping man, jaehyeong’s hand reaches for his forehead. five seconds are enough to tell him woosung has a fever. he moves the material covering his body, inspecting the wound close. it’s infected, which he’s not surprised, but  _ jesus _ it looks so bad. he needs woosung to be able to walk, but with the way his skin is paper white, lips bruised despite how hot woosung’s temperature is, he truly doubts he will be able to get down the mountain himself without at least a bit of help. 

“wake up, you have a fever, woosung.” woosung’s eyes fly open, but they quickly close again. he does make a sound of confusion, clearly asking jaehyeong what’s going on. “your cut got infected.”

the man waves him off, gathering the jackets with one hand. “it’s fine, just let me sleep some more.”

jaehyeong considers it, seeing how tired woosung looks, but then he remembers that they’re hiding in plain sight, and the light outside isn’t on their side. he sneaks an arm under woosung’s head, making him sit. that does the job and wakes him up properly. “what?”

“it’s morning, you have a fever, they will quickly find us out. come on, we need to move. can you move? are you ok?” again, woosung waves him off, choosing instead to look at his wound. he frowns at the sight. “then it’s time we left.”

reaching for his suit jacket, the police officer’s grip on it secures. “why is this on me?” jaehyeong glares and tugs it until woosung lets go. the man smiles, “thanks.”

taking the blazer on, jaehyeong leaves woosung to stand on his own. bad idea, for the man almost falls. the taller is quick to wrap an arm around him, steadying woosung. “you ok?”

“‘m fine, worry about yourself.” he weakly pushes jaehyeong away, moving to stand on his own. jaehyeong lets him be, rolling his eyes at the selflessness of woosung. he walks ahead of the officer, exiting the house first and leading him back into the dense forest. “and let me tell you! before you decide to tell me what did happen four years ago, i will still follow you like a hawk.”

“so you said, woosung…” he mutters under his breath. 

he walks ahead, not waiting for the man. the shuffling and angry mumbles he hears behind him are enough for him to calm down his worries and know that the officer is following him. part of him wants to wait and help him walk, or at least tell him to be careful of the fallen trees and slippery grass, but part of him doesn’t want woosung to even  _ think _ he cares. because he doesn’t. he couldn’t care less about kim woosung. 

“are you sure it’s that way? i think we’re supposed to go the other way, lee,” woosung says behind him. he almost doesn’t hear him with how quiet his voice is. who would’ve thought that an infected wound is all it would take for  _ the _ kim woosung to quiet down. 

jaehyeong turns to look at him, looks where he’s pointing at, and shakes his head. he continues to go his way, unaware and unbothered by woosung’s exasperated aura. he slows his steps, waiting for the man to catch up to him. and sure enough, a few beats pass and there are limping steps behind him. 

he’s alert of any sound around them, but even more of woosung’s stepping and quiet whines as his arm reaches for the trees looking for support. the sound of a broken cry startles him, making jaehyeong spun around faster than light. woosung looks at him, sheepishly grinning. “sorry, i slipped on the grass.”

jaehyeong sighs, his hand out to help the officer up before he remembers  _ who  _ he is. jaehyeong stuffs it back in his pocket and glares at the smaller man to get up faster. “i told you to be careful,” is all he says. he adds an eye roll too, just to make sure that woosung knows his true feelings. 

“yeah, yeah, just shut up already, will you?” if woosung were a cat, or a parrot, or maybe even the wolf he truly resembles, jaehyeong is sure his fur or feathers would be all ruffled up to make him look more threatening. but this way, woosung just looks like an idiot and jaehyeong wants to flick his forehead  _ so bad. _ he abstains, and instead walks. 

he walks and pays no mind to woosung just to be extra petty, but then the inevitable happens. woosung properly trips, a yell spilling from his lips and body colliding with the cold ground. well, at least that’s what should’ve happened. woosung  _ should have  _ smacked his  pretty ugly face, but jaehyeong has exactly what he hates the most: reflexes. he spins around just in time to catch woosung in his arms, his grip on the smaller man’s body tight, far too secure for someone he has to hate. 

if this were a drama, everything would happen in slow-motion and there would be romantic music playing in the background. but this is real life, and that means that the two rivals are left to stare at one another in awkward, deafening silence; one terrified, the other too hard to read. 

**Author's Note:**

> [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/cryystal_moon)  
> please if you watched trapped come scream with me bc ive been doing that ever since it came out [twitter](https://twitter.com/cryystal_moon)


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